Wahine outlast BYU in overtime, 77-73

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Beating back Brigham Young with brilliant free-throw shooting and an assist from absolutely everyone, the University of Hawai'i advanced to the elite eight of the Women's National Invitation Tournament last night with a 77-73 overtime victory.

Wahine center Dainora Puida looks for a teammate to pass to as BYU's Chanell Rose applies defense. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Wahine play Oklahoma State at home tomorrow in a quarterfinal. Tickets go on sale at the box office at 8 this morning. The Wahine will still be reliving the final frantic seconds of regulation from last night.

"They play just like this on the road," UH coach Vince Goo said. "Fall behind, come back, fall behind, come back. Never give up. Never quit. At home or on the road. If you think this was an exciting game and our ladies played with a lot of courage ... that was an ordinary game for us."

This must be an extraordinary season.

Christen Roper, a 51-percent foul shooter, hit two free throws with 4.4 seconds remaining in regulation to put UH ahead, 59-58. BYU threw the ball away on the inbounds pass and UH senior Crystal Lee knocked down two more free throws with 2.7 seconds showing.

But Whetten caught the inbounds pass, dribbled right and twisted left, launching in her only basket to tie it at 61 and send the game into overtime.

The crowd went silent instantaneously. The Wahine loped to the bench and brought it on again.

"After they hit that three, it did kind of deflate us," Lee said, "but we came back. Nothing real flashy. Just hit our free throws and made the shots."

Lee sank two foul shots to instigate a 14-of-16 UH free-throw exhibition in OT that finally quieted the Cougars.

After a turnover, Janka Gabrielova, who connected for a game-high 24, hit a basket. BYU missed, pulled down one of its 23 offensive rebounds, and got stuffed by Roper. That led to two more Lee free throws that gave the Wahine a 67-61 advantage with 2:55 showing.

Hawai'i wouldn't score another basket, but the Cougars, who never trailed in the first half, couldn't cut their deficit below two again. That came at 75-73, with :09 showing, on Erin Thorn's 3-pointer. Gabrielova was fouled on the press and sank two more foul shots, and the Cougars' season.

"It was a helpless feeling," said Thorn, who scored 16 points but was forced into 7-of-19 shooting by Gabrielova's constant harassment. "You can't really do anything, you've just got to watch. And they were on fire with the free throws. They were making everything. It wasn't a good thing."

Gabrielova and Lee were both 10-for-10 from the line. Dainora Puida (13 points, 11 rebounds) had her fifth consecutive double-double and Roper finished with 15 points. None loomed as large as her free throws in the final seconds of regulation. As she waited to shoot, Lee walked up to her.

"She told me something that helped me make them," Roper recalled. "She told me if I missed them, it's not the end of the world. It kinda calmed me down."

Her two shots hit nothing but net and put the Wahine ahead for the first time in the final three minutes.

Hawai'i took its first lead of the game on the first basket of the second half. Inspired by reserves Natasja Allen, Karena Greeny and Christa Brossman, UH pulled ahead 49-43 midway through the half.

But BYU wasn't going away. The Cougars outscored Hawai'i 15-5 before Gabrielova launched a 3-pointer from close to the Wahine bench. That made it 58-57 with :40 left.

The rest is history. So now is BYU.

"Everyone contributed in a big way," Goo said. "It's been a long season but it's easy to keep going as a coach because when you come to practice, you see your players go hard, you see them perform like this tonight. This is the 32nd time they've done this. It makes it easy to get up tomorrow and come in and get ready for the next game."

The Wahine offense was all but nonexistent early. They turned the ball over seven of their first 10 possessions and Roper was the only Hawai'i player with a basket in the first nine minutes.

The Cougars also started slowly, with the exception of Lisa Osguthorpe, who drained three 3-pointers to lift BYU to an advantage that grew as large as nine (23-14). It could have been bigger, and probably should have been with Brigham Young's huge rebounding edge, but the Cougars also got sloppy. They also shot just 31 percent ö 30 percent less than their previous game.

Eventually, their fouls ö UH was taking penalty shots 12 minutes into the game ö caught up to them, and so did the Hawai'i offense. Backup point guard Michelle Gabriel helped the Wahine find a rhythm offensively and Allen came in to score five points in the midst of an 11-3 run that eventually left them one back (28-27) at halftime.

"That run at the end of the first half killed us," Thorn said. "That made a game out of it. We don't let them have that run, we've got the game in the bag."

• OVER AND BACK: WAC champion Texas Christian lost to Louisiana Tech, 80-59, yesterday in the NCAA Tournament's second round. The Lady Techsters join the WAC in the fall, and TCU leaves.