By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
TULSA, Okla. — Southern Methodist and Hawai‘i head into today’s Williams Western Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament women’s semifinal knowing one thing.
They cannot play as poorly as they did Wednesday if they want to play again.
Third-seeded Southern Methodist (17-11) needed a little luck and a long bench to survive against sixth-seeded Fresno State. Fresno coach Britt King was so devastated after the Bulldogs blew a late lead, she left a post-game press conference to compose herself.
"The game was ours," King said. "We played 30 minutes of good basketball and we lost it in the last 10 minutes."
Soon after, injury-ravaged Tulsa took it to the second-seeded Wahine (22-6) most of the first half and refused to roll over in the second. Hawai‘i finally worked its way through the Golden Hurricane and their defense, winning 65-55.
"As long as you shoot free throws and you play defense you’re going to be in the ballgame," said UH coach Vince Goo, whose Wahine hit 22 of 28 free throws compared to Tulsa’s 2 of 5. "That’s what we did well, again."
It needs to happen yet again today at Reynolds Center to get the Wahine into tomorrow’s championship, and give them a shot at the NCAA Tournament. Their recent history against SMU gives them reason for optimism.
Hawai‘i is the only WAC team to sweep the Mustangs, who were preseason conference favorites. SMU is shooting 29 percent against what Goo calls his finest defensive team, and losing by an average of 16 points.
"We haven’t shot the ball well against them, we haven’t played well against them," SMU coach Rhonda Rhompola said. "I look at the tapes and think if we’d just play well, it would be a great game. We didn’t put ourselves in position to win the other games."
Rhompola has ripped through 12 different starting lineups, and even more trash-can bashing halftime speeches during the Mustangs’ roller-coaster season. She is starting three freshmen now, with seniors Katie Remke and WAC Player of the Year D-dra Rucker.
"The good thing about the last couple games is that D-dra has not had the great games she had earlier in the conference," Rhompola said. "It’s not because she’s not playing well, it’s because others are stepping up. Early on, teams were keying solely on D-dra, and they can’t do that now."
The infusion of young legs, particularly those of perpetual-motion point guard Jackee’ Brown, has SMU on a four-game winning streak. Its last loss was against Hawai‘i. The Mustangs averaged 11 3-pointers over their next three games — "It’s kinda weird that became our forte," Rhompola said — and buried a school-record 13 in an upset of TCU.
Wednesday, they reverted to 5-for-24 from beyond the arc, and still won.
"This last stretch they seem to be playing their best," said UH assistant Jon Newlee, who came over from SMU last season. "The win over TCU was huge, to go in there and win and shoot like they did. That’s the way their game goes — if they shoot it, their game is going great. The problem all year is they haven’t shot with any consistency."
Not coincidentally, the Wahine’s recent success against SMU coincides with Newlee’s arrival. He recruited most of the Mustangs’ players and they still run the same offense — "different names, same patterns."
Despite all that’s changed with SMU the past few weeks, Newlee sees Rucker as the focal point today.
"They feed off her," he said. "When she gets going, gets some steals and layups, hits some 3s, they all gain confidence from that. When she is just jacking it up and missing, they all start feeling it, too."
OVER AND BACK: Southern Methodist has been to six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments, reaching the second round the past two years. ... The Mustangs received votes in the USA Today poll this week for the first time this season. Their power rating is No. 69. ... UH senior Crystal Lee scored nine points against Tulsa. That ended her streak of 13 consecutive games in double figures.
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