Rainbow women will build around their big two
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Fittingly, the 2002-2003 Rainbow Wahine basketball players were introduced at Friday night's "Back to the '70s" Midnight 'Ohana in the guise of characters made famous the decade before they were born.
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This Hawai'i team might play much like last year's, but the faces will often be different because of attrition and what coach Vince Goo suddenly senses is a gifted recruiting class.
Rainbow senior Christen Roper helps rebound basketballs at the Midnight 'Ohana.
Four who played a huge part in last year's 23-8 season are no longer with the Rainbows. That includes the primary ballhandler (Janka Gabrielova), best leader (Karena Greeny) and purest shooter (Chelsea Wagner).
Four freshmen are here to kick-start the transition and April Atuaia, the 2001 WAC Freshman of the Year, is back after missing most of last season with a knee injury. She and 6-foot-5 Christen Roper are the only players Goo is somewhat sure of starting.
Point guard could be split among three players, with senior Michelle Gabriel bringing the most savvy, Milia Macfarlane making huge strides and freshman Trisha Nishimoto playing the most Gabrielova-like defense.
That last point scores high with Goo. Last season, Gabrielova's annoying habit of trying to share her opponent's uniform and Roper's ability to swat shots and detour inside game plans helped Hawai'i's defense rank seventh nationally.
The 'Bows' big women are back in the form of Roper and Natasja Allen. Volleyball All-American Kim Willoughby will join them when her fall season ends. Freshman Penny Jones will push Allen, who led the balanced UH scoring last year thanks to a brilliant preseason, but dropped off dramatically during Western Athletic Conference play.
"Penny is very active, runs very well," Goo says. "She's probably one of the fastest '4' players we'll ever have. And she can score. She beats people up and down the floor and she's quick around the basket. She is real coach-able."
Julia Washington is another step back and freshman center Callie Spooner will play behind Roper. "Now she's way behind 'Rope,' " Goo says. "But she comes in like Christen was her freshman year, about the same level."
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Goo sees Atuaia, Jade Abele and freshman Amy Sanders sharing the two "wing" positions all but equally. Atuaia and Abele play different styles but are capable of scoring in streaks. Both have the added incentive of knowing what it's like not to play after missing much of last season to injury.
Marisa Oshiro, left, of Palolo Valley, and Angela Crandall of Mo'ili'ili dressed up in inflatable sumo suits and wrestled at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Goo thought Sanders was special the minute he saw her. He raves about her versatility and ballhandling skills, brags that she runs sprints with the speedy point guards and concludes with two of his favorite subjects. "She just plays really hard," he says, "and she's a very smart player."
Last March, the Rainbow Wahine lost the WAC championship game against eighth-ranked Louisiana Tech, 53-50. Willoughby, an all-tournament selection, pulled Hawai'i to a halftime lead. Hawai'i had two chances to tie in the final 10 seconds.
It wasn't enough. The loss was the difference between the NCAA Tournament and the WNIT and the season's lone regret.
"We had the game, we had the chance to beat them," Roper said. "We lost our berth to the NCAA and the championship of the WAC. All in 10 seconds."
Hawai'i might look the same, with different faces filling the same spaces, but Goo thinks his offense is more versatile and his defense will ultimately reach last year's level. And only one thing left to accomplish. Roper puts it in a season-long sentence:
"Improve individually and as a team," she says, "and beat LaTech in the championship game."
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