By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
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National Invitation Tournament
WHO: Hawai‘i vs. Santa Clara.
WHEN: Tomorrow, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Stan Sheriff Center.
RADIO: Live on KCCN (1420 AM). |
Anger is now a wasted emotion and awe is reserved for those with time to appreciate paradise. Santa Clara arrives in Hawai‘i today with only one thing on its mind.
Just win, baby. It is all that can make the Broncos feel better.
The University of Hawai‘i Wahine have the same thought going into tomorrow’s first-round Women’s National Invitation Tournament basketball game at Stan Sheriff Center.
Both teams find themselves in a tournament they hoped to avoid. The 23-7 Wahine are coming off a loss to Texas Christian in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship. The 20-7 Broncos were upset by seventh-seeded Portland in their last game - two weeks ago - in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament.
Both will try to make amends, and a point to the NCAA selection committee. It is Hawai‘i’s second straight WNIT appearance, and fifth postseason game in eight years. Santa Clara and its four seniors are making a school-record fourth consecutive postseason appearance.
The beach and balmy breezes are lost on the Broncos.
"They don’t care if it’s Hawai‘i or Fairbanks, Alaska, the Santa Clara kids are all about winning," said Pepperdine coach Mark Trakh, whose team lost to both schools. "They won’t let the surroundings distract them at all. If there is one team in this (WCC) conference who will not let anything affect it, it’s Santa Clara. They are that experienced, that focused, and that smart."
In many ways they are much like the Wahine.
Both teams have a senior center capable of taking control. Annie Garrison, Santa Clara’s leading scorer, has done it consistently while earning a third consecutive all-conference first-team honor. Dainora Puida’s moments of brilliance for the Wahine have extended dramatically recently.
Both teams also have junior point guards. Becki Ashbaugh is the Broncos’ captain and all but a lock for 30-plus minutes, 9 points and 5 assists every game. The Wahine’s Janka Gabrielova is often spectacular on defense, but has been spectacularly erratic on offense.
The matchups become more baffling in between. Hawai‘i wings Kylie Galloway and Crystal Lee are tough to defend, as are Santa Clara’s Jennifer Glysson (6-0, Sr.) and Kim Sorenson (5-9, Sr.). Wahine April Atuaia is the WAC Freshman of the Year, while Bronco Carolyn Gruening (5-7, Jr.) has gone from walk-on to all-WCC in two seasons.
If you are looking for a reason both teams are here, and not in the NCAA Tournament, it is this: Hawai‘i has been prone to poor first halves while the Broncos were terrible in their tournament and blew leads in losses to conference champion St. Mary’s - which beat the Wahine in the WNIT's first round a year ago.
Those letdowns are not indicative of either team's seasons. UH coach Vince Goo considers this his finest group of defenders and the brightest bunch he has ever coached. Trakh makes it sound like the Broncos live basketball’s version of Stepford Lives.
"Santa Clara is a machine," he said. "They don’t beat themselves. They play within themselves, run their offense, play with each other very, very well. They dissect your offense and always attack your weaknesses. They are really well schooled. You see it on the floor."
The most vivid example was the Broncos’ 61-56 upset of 11th-ranked Texas Tech in December.
"We’ve done some really good things," Santa Clara coach Chris Denker said. "We lost a starter four days before practice started and a couple of kids have stepped up. We’re a fairly decent defensive team, although we were very bad in the WCC Tournament, to be honest. We have a balanced, maybe boring offense. No one scores 20, but that's the way I like to play. We get quite a few assists. We are similar in some ways to Hawai‘i."
Even the teams’ pasts have crossed. The Broncos won the WNIT in 1991, when it was the NWIT and eight teams competed in Amarillo, Texas. A year later, the Wahine were second in the NWIT.
And, last year, both teams also believed they belonged in the Big Dance, but were ignored and eventually fell in the WNIT’s first round.
There is no way that can happen again, at least for one team.
OVER AND BACK: Chris Denker is in his first year as head coach. He was a Santa Clara assistant the previous seven years and moved up when Caren Horstmeyer was hired at Cal a year ago. . . . Texas-El Paso coach Sandra Rushing announced her resignation yesterday. Rushing is UTEP’s winningest women’s basketball coach, with a 123-175 record in 11 seasons. The Miners were 8-20 this year.
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