Rainbow Wahine struggle past Wolf Pack into WAC semifinal
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
TULSA, Okla. — In a WAC Basketball Tournament opener with a WAC football score, the third-seeded University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine outlasted sixth-seeded Nevada, 45-41, yesterday to advance to the semifinals. The teams set a tournament record for offensive futility.
David Crenshaw • Special to the Honolulu Advertiser
"Actually what we tried to do today is ... whoever wins the next game between Rice and SMU, we're trying to make them over-confident," UH coach Vince Goo said. "The way we performed today ... that was the ploy all the way."
Hawai'i's leading scorer Natasja Allen, right, was hounded by the Nevada defense and managed only two points.
Goo could grin because his team avoided an upset with a gritty, game-long defensive stand Nevada (9-19) matched heartbeat for heartbeat, and an even-grittier performance by senior captain Karena Greeny. In a game where she and Wolf Pack senior Katie Golomb were the only players who seemed to see the basket, Greeny scored 17 points, snagged eight rebounds and iced the game with two free throws and 7.3 seconds showing.
"She's saved us all year," Goo said. "She got rebounds for us on both ends and just took it to the basket looking to score. She took exactly what we wanted as far as shots were concerned."
Hawai'i (22-6) will play second-seeded Rice — the only unranked team to beat UH this season — in tomorrow's game at Reynolds Center. The same Rice team that held the Rainbows to 20 percent shooting the first time it beat them this season, then broke their hearts in the final moments the second time.
The Owls (21-7) crushed seventh-seeded SMU, 80-57, yesterday, scoring their 45th point with two minutes left in the first half. Nevada never got to 45, losing the final five games of its season but never its tenacity.
The Wolf Pack, which was allowing 70 points a game coming into the tournament, held two leads: 2-0 and 23-22 two minutes into the second half. But it never allowed the Rainbow Wahine to get up by more than six and stayed within a basket nearly every second of the final 15 minutes.
Ten days ago, Hawai'i won 58-51 in Nevada on the strength of a 49-22 rebounding advantage. The Pack had two offensive boards in that game and three in the first four minutes yesterday. After running the Rainbows' plays ad nauseum in practice the past two days, and knowing a loss would end its season, Nevada was ready. It pressured point guard Janka Gabrielova, shut down Hawai'i's passing lanes and collapsed hard when UH did get the ball inside.
The Rainbow Wahine posts did not respond well.
"The first 10 minutes we did exactly what we wanted to do," Goo said. "Went into Natasja (Allen), went into Christen (Roper). We had a lot of good shots. We just didn't finish. I said at halftime if we'd hit half our shots from 3 to 5 feet, we'd have been up 15 points."
But Roper and Allen weren't the only ones. The Wolf Pack hit just 33 percent for the game — all-conference center Kate Smith was 4-for-16 — and the Rainbows 31.
Nevada stayed close early by getting second and third shots. The Rainbow Wahine transformed the Pack's 20-14 first-half rebounding advantage into a 47-32 deficit by the end. Many came in a short second-half flurry that put Hawai'i ahead 28-23. Nevada coach Ada Gee called that span "the difference."
There wasn't much else. The teams traded scores the final 15 minutes.
Hawai'i post players struggled offensively, but refused to allow Smith a basket until the beginning of the second half. Allen, Hawai'i's leading scorer, got her only basket soon after. With she and Roper ineffective, volleyball All-American Kim Willoughby played 29 minutes, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds and keeping Smith under control.
Fortunately for the Rainbows, Willoughby and Roper were both in the final 7:09, when the Wolf Pack had 10 chances to tie or go ahead, but couldn't.
With UH ahead 43-41 and 32 seconds showing, Nevada called time — and Smith's number. She got the ball under the basket, but couldn't get the shot in over the 6-foot-5 Roper. Willoughby and Roper kept the ball alive and Willoughby finally grabbed it and was fouled. She missed the front end of the one-and-one.
Nevada's Laura Ingham brought the ball down and missed an open perimeter shot with eight seconds.
"I'd like to have put those shots in at the end," Smith said, wanting to change nothing else about the game. "We had two chances. I missed one and somebody else missed one. We had our chances today."
Greeny got the rebound and was fouled. After a timeout where Goo went over the scenarios "after she makes both free throws," Greeny took a breath, "tried to relax," and knocked them down.
"That's where experience comes in," Goo said. "You want your seniors at the line."
Then he grinned at Greeny.
"I'm sure it went through her head how long a walk it is to Los Angeles," he joked. "And a long swim from there."
OVER AND BACK: The previous WAC Tournament record for fewest points scored (96) was set by San Diego State and New Mexico in 1995. The tournament is in its 12th year. ... Hawai'i now leads the series with Nevada, 16-2. ... Fresno State scored 12 points in the first half Tuesday against Boise State. The Bulldogs outscored Boise 41-26 in the second half to force overtime, then lost, 66-54. 'Aiea graduate Aritta Lane scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds. ... The Rainbow Wahine had a 7:30 a.m. shootaround yesterday. Ignoring the four-hour time difference, that's still an hour later than they started practices this season. ... Hawai'i's WAC Tournament record is 6-5.
