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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, March 15, 2002

Rainbow Wahine lose WNIT opener

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Oregon State's Brina Chaney, left, wrestled for the ball with Hawai'i's Kim Willoughby in yesterday's WNIT game.

Associated Press

CORVALLIS, Ore. — This Rainbow Wahine basketball postseason barely lasted five minutes

The final 35 minutes of the University of Hawai'i's 62-50 Women's National Invitation Tournament loss to Oregon State last night was simply the aloha appearance of the Rainbows' relentlessness. Turns out, that was their finest talent all along.

A gaping hole in the offense coupled with a rare defensive breakdown combined to end Hawai'i's season early in the opening round of the WNIT.

Seniors Karena Greeny and Janka Gabrielova left with a 23-8 record and a touching parting shot for the players who had followed their selfless lead all season.

"When I walked off the court that was it for me," Greeny said. "But these guys keep on fighting."

Oregon State canceled the The Young and the Relentless with a 16-0 surge the Rainbow Wahine ultimately couldn't overcome. It started with 13:46 left in the first half and didn't end until Christa Brossman's free throw got Hawai'i back on the board 11 minutes later, down 25-8.

The OSU defense forced UH's offense out nearly to half-court, then swallowed the wide passing lanes to create a dozen first-half turnovers. The few times Hawai'i did get the ball inside, its post players were ineffective. Leading scorer Natasja Allen (10.4 points per game) was shut out, and 6-foot-5 Christen Roper had but two baskets to go with her nine rebounds.

"We turned the ball over; they had the trap and the zone extended, and it just took us too long to get into our offense," Greeny said. "They were making everything and then it was hard for us to get the ball past halfcourt. By the time you get on 'O' you only have 12 seconds to get a shot off. I think that was the difference."

UH coach Vince Goo agreed and added an element.

"It seemed like Oregon State had a lot more physical energy than we did," said Goo, whose team has flown 40,000 miles since Christmas. "They had a lot of emotion, a lot of spirit, but definitely not more than my kids. But a bit more energy."

When Jade Abele scored Hawai'i's first basket in nearly 12 minutes it got UH to double digits. It was simply a cosmetic accomplishment. When the Rainbow Wahine outscored OSU 7-2 to end the half, their 31-17 deficit was a hollow victory. They had more turnovers (12) than baskets (7) and made just 29 percent of their shots, which was an improvement after a 3-for-20 start.

"Obviously we were really disappointed with the way we were handling the ball," Goo said. "That was really, really sloppy. I thought we were pretty lucky to only be down 14. Then again, we could have been down a lot less than that.

"We told them, we've been up on people by that margin at halftime and people have quit on us while we continued playing. We were not going to be in that role. I think our ladies really came out and battled hard the last 20 minutes. But again, in the second half, I think Oregon State had a lot more energy."

The Rainbows kept coming throughout the second half. When freshman Chelsea Wagner — Oregon's 2001 High School Player of the Year — drained consecutive 3-pointers to cut the gap to single digits (46-38) with 8:34 remaining, Hawai'i was suddenly a threat again.

Then OSU All-American Felicia Ragland scored the Beavers next 11 points — six from the foul line — and it was over. The score was 57-40 with 5:15 remaining and the Rainbows clearly didn't have enough to overcome Oregon State.

The Beavers had an inside game to go with Ragland's versatile talents and Hawai'i had only Wagner (14 points) and Gabrielova (16) from far out.

"We called certain plays to get the ball into Felicia's hands," OSU coach Judy Spoelstra said. "And she hit a big 3 to break it open again and hit another big bucket to put it back at 15. One big key was Wagner hit those huge 3s — what was that, 29 feet? — and we just wanted to make sure we ran a couple offenses in a row to get the ball in Felicia's hands. That got Wagner's second, third and fourth fouls and that cooled her down a little."

The Gill Coliseum crowd of 2,182 was oddly neutral, with Wagner's large following and a larger number of Hawai'i students evening the noise level out.

In the final five minutes, the crowd was oddly quiet. The Rainbow Wahine were on their way home for good, while Oregon State joins the other three Pac-10 teams in the WNIT quarterfinals.

"So much for a National Invitation Tournament with all the Pac-10 on one side," Spoelstra said. "It's crazy how it works out. I'm glad all the Pac-10 teams were winners and it certainly proves a point, maybe for next year's selection process."

Hawai'i's disappointment at not getting an NCAA bid was lost in the offensive black hole OSU created last night. The Rainbows' third consecutive WNIT will go in the books just as it did two years ago, with an opening round loss (last year UH reached the semifinals). This one, at least, came with a comeback.

"We came back the second half and never gave up," Wagner said. "We played as hard as we could. The experience here was good. I'm still happy. We kept coming back. That's what our team's done all year long. We've never given up. That's what makes this team special."

OVER AND BACK: Janka Gabrielova's two 3-pointers last night gave her 49 for the season, a UH record. ...ÊWaiakea graduate Shelley Nakasone was one of the referees. ... The Rainbow Wahine used all their 70 free tickets. More than half went to Chelsea Wagner's family and friends. Wagner graduated from Springfield High, about 40 miles from Corvallis. ... Approximately 500 OSU students are from Hawai'i and the UH staff found several Wednesday night when it had dinner at Royal Pacific Restaurant & Lounge, a few blocks from the team hotel. Classmates of current Rainbows Michelle Gabriel (Maryknoll) and Milia Macfarlane (Punahou) were in the restaurant and a classmate of former Rainbow BJ Itoman (Iolani) worked there. All got on the pass list for last night's game, along with owner Paul Kagawa, from Waimea, Kaua'i.