Rice rolls past cold-shooting UH

Advertiser Staff

Two ticked-off basketball teams will play in Tulsa tomorrow after losing Western Athletic Conference games in painful ways last night.

The University of Hawai'i Wahine, shooting a poor 20 percent from the field, fell to Rice, 57-43. The Wahine are 0-4 in Houston, while the Owls are 0-3 in Honolulu.

Meanwhile, Tulsa lost its school-record six-game winning streak and share of first place when San Jose State rallied to beat the Golden Hurricane, 75-73. The Spartans scored the last eight points of the game at Reynolds Center, where the Wahine play tomorrow. The game will be broadcast live on 1420 AM at 10 a.m. HST.

In losing its second straight, Hawai'i (10-4) fell to fifth in the WAC, behind SJSU, at 3-2. The Wahine led just once at Autry Court, 4-3 less than two minutes into the game.

With Hawai'i missing nearly everything it put up, the Owls (11-4, 5-1 WAC) pulled ahead 29-16 with 3:23 left in the half. UH, scoring 13 of its 23 first-half points from the line, cut its deficit to nine at the break.

"I thought after the way we competed against Louisiana Tech we would have played with a little more confidence and courage in the first half," UH coach Vince Goo said. "But we were very tentative. The second half was more intense, we played harder, we were just not in synch."

And nothing changed, despite the Wahine getting four Owls in foul trouble. Three were post players, but Hawai'i never executed well enough to exploit its advantage. UH center Christen Roper was held to one basket and four points, eight below her average.

The Wahine never got closer than seven in the second half and made just 5-of-27 field-goal attempts. They were 10-of-50 for the game — the worst shooting performance Goo could remember in 15 years as coach.

"They played good defense," Goo said of the Owls. "They're always quick and put pressure on you. But we did what we wanted to offensively because we got to the free throw line 37 times. The downside is we missed 15.

"When we did what we wanted, we went to the free throw line. That was the gameplan. But you can't make just 10 baskets and win a ballgame."

Rice shot 30 percent, but took 16 more shots and had 10 fewer turnovers. The Wahine turned the ball over 21 times, didn't hit a 3-pointer, and Natasja Allen and Kim Willoughby were the only players with more than one basket.

Goo didn't hesitate to call it the worst game of the year.

"I think our youth and inexperience showed," he said. "We didn't have enough take-charge."