Wahine beat San Jose State for fifth straight win

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

An eight-day break from competition didn't affect the University of Hawai'i Wahine.

Hawai'i's Janka Gabrielova drove on San Jose State's Elea A'Giza, and finished with a game-high 21 points. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

In its Western Athletic Conference season home opener, Hawai'i (9-2, 2-0 WAC) won its fifth straight game, snapped San Jose State's three-game winning streak, and handed the Spartans (7-5, 2-1) their first WAC loss.

It only took about 10 seconds for the Wahine to score the first bucket of the game. Missed jumpers by the Spartans helped the Wahine go on 5-1 and 9-0 runs in the first 10 minutes. And even with the team's two leading scorers, forward Natasja Allen and center Christen Roper, on the bench with 12 minutes to go after getting into first-half foul trouble, the other players stepped up. Forward Kim Willoughby scored eight of her career-high 16 points and grabbed eight of her career-high 15 rebounds before halftime.

"I knew I had to be big," said the All-American volleyball player, who played 31 minutes. "Just overall on defense, I think I did a really good job. That made everything come around."

Not deep in the post position, with freshman Jade Abele out with a stress fracture in her right foot, the Wahine needed Willoughby to post big numbers both on offense and defense.

"Kim did an outstanding job," said UH head coach Vince Goo. "What I'm going to tell her is that's not bad for a volleyball player. And I'll tell (volleyball head coach) Dave Shoji that, too."

Guard April Atuaia was nearly perfect in the first half, hitting 3-of-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from beyond the arc (but only 1-of-4 from the free-throw line) for nine points. She ended the night with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Atuaia's contribution on defense was huge — holding the Spartans' second-leading scorer, Atari Parker, to 2-of-11 from the floor and just nine points.

The Wahine outplayed the Spartans in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field compared to San Jose State's 21.2 percent. They outrebounded the Spartans, 30-15.

The Wahine's in-your-face defense held the Spartans' leading scorers, Cricket Williams and Parker, to just seven points in the first half.

Hawai'i had a commanding halftime lead at 40-17, but didn't come into the second half with the same intensity. The Wahine committed three straight turnovers before Roper knocked one in three minutes into the half.

"That's what happens when you have a big lead and you don't come out as intense," Goo said.

Senior forward Elea A'Giza, third in scoring for the Spartans and last week's WAC Player of the Week, picked up the slack, contributing 12 points, eight of which came in the second half.

The Spartans turned up their defense, scoring a quick nine points in less than a minute, bringing the score to 57-42, behind junior forward Cahunita Smith, who scored all of her 13 points in the last 11 minutes of the second half.

"They didn't play that good in the first half," said point guard Janka Gabrielova, who led the Wahine with 21 points. "But they were better in the second half. They came back pretty strong. And we lost composure."

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Williams and Parker weren't enough to catch up, and San Jose State's last-ditch effort fell far short.

Williams ended the game with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-20 shooting from the floor.

The Spartans ended up shooting for just 31.7 percent, compared to Hawai'i's 51.9 percent.

The Wahine's strength has always been at the line. They went to the charity stripe 34 times, compared to San Jose State's 16. But Hawai'i shot only 58.8 percent, 37.5 percent in the first half.

In the last 90 seconds, Gabrielova went to the line four times, hitting 6-of-8 free throws.

Despite the win she wasn't pleased with the team's second-half performance.

"We have to learn from the second half big time," Gabrielova said. "Winning by 20 points doesn't matter."