Wahine welcomes BYU for WNIT's 2nd round
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
The University of Hawai'i Wahine basketball team will stay home for the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
Brigham Young's 78-63 victory at Oregon State last night sends the Cougars to the Stan Sheriff Center Monday for a 7 p.m. game against the Wahine (21-7). Tickets go on sale when the arena box office opens Monday morning at 8. All seats are general admission. Prices are $9, $6 (senior citizens) and $5 (students).
If Oregon State had won last night, Hawai'i would have left for Corvallis this afternoon. Yesterday morning, WNIT officials told UH it would travel no matter which team won last night; in the afternoon, they changed their minds.
Monday's winner advances to a quarterfinal against the winner of tomorrow's game between UNLV and Oklahoma State.
The Cougars (19-12) upset 16th-ranked Utah, 57-50, in the Mountain West Tournament semifinals, overcoming a 40-20 halftime deficit. They lost to Colorado State, 59-56, in the final. Led by all-conference guard Erin Thorne, BYU is playing in its third consecutive postseason.
Hawai'i won its first-ever postseason home game Thursday, 73-57 over Santa Clara. It came four days after captain Kylie Galloway quit.
The Wahine eluded any trace of controversy as gracefully as they eluded every Bronco comeback. Their message was clear, before, during and after one of the sweetest victories in the program's history: They have moved on.
"Obviously it's not the same playing without her," senior Crystal Lee said. "But she chose not to be here. That's out of our control. That's life. We have to move on. I'm really proud of our team. We proved we can still win."
They proved it from the opening moments to the final buzzer, never allowing the Broncos within eight after the first five minutes. Lee called it Hawai'i's finest "back-to-back" halves this season and an especially gratifying performance after last Saturday's "heartbreaking" loss to Texas Christian in the WAC championship.
That it was played out before their largest (2,428) and loudest crowd of the year only contributed to the Wahine's unabashed joy.
"It was like Senior Night all over again," Lee said, " but this felt much better actually because the victory meant more.
"The intensity was jacked up because it could have been our last game, and we were chosen to be here. Regardless of if it's the NCAAs or WNIT, it wasn't a given to us."
A year ago, in a first-round WNIT game at St. Mary's, the Wahine might not have said that, coach Vince Goo admits.
"I didn't think we really wanted to be in that WNIT game last year," he said. "Not necessarily because it was on the road, just because they were disappointed they weren't going to the NCAAs.
"Even if this team had gone on the road, we would have had people who really wanted to be in this game. This team has a different makeup with players like (April) Atuaia, (Christa) Brossman, (Janka) Gabrielova and (Karena) Greeny."
Goo's plan now is to continue to keep it simple: Focus on offense and play with that "jacked up" intensity on defense. He says this team needs little direction and even less inspiration. Lately, he readily admits it hasn't even needed much coaching.
Thursday's performance, in the face of all his players have lived through the last month, proved his point. He characterized it as one of the three most significant victories in his career.
"I was proud of how we performed, proud the kids came out and realized that, whether its 600 or 2,400, they play hard," he said. "I was proud to be able to give the people a reason to cheer."
• OVER AND BACK: With six blocks Thursday, the Wahine set a record for blocks in a season. They have 128, with 81 coming from sophomore Christen Roper. The old mark was 124, set in 1986-87. ... WAC teams are 11-12 in the WNIT and 14-31 record in NCAA Tournament games. ... Santa Clara won what was then called the NWIT in 1991. ... Hawai'i is now 4-10 in nine national tournament appearances.
