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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, February 7, 2003

No. 9 LaTech wears down UH

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i watched ninth-ranked Louisiana Tech's best half of basketball last night. The combination of the Rainbow Wahine watching and Tech's best half was far too much for UH to overcome.

UH's Jade Abele, right, drove against Louisiana Tech's Tasha Crain last night.

Marvi Lacar • Special to The Advertiser

LaTech (18-2) won its 16th in a row and kept its WAC record unblemished at 10-0, blowing by Hawai'i (11-8) in the final 17 minutes for a 67-44 victory. The Rainbows dropped to 5-5 in the WAC and deeper into the standings with their third consecutive loss. It is the first time in more than four years UH has lost three straight.

That the two teams were heading in opposite directions appeared obvious to the Stan Sheriff Crowd of 802 in the second half. Louisiana Tech outscored the 'Bows 39-19 and out-rebounded them 19-10.

"They outplayed us," UH coach Vince Goo said flatly. "They played harder than us in the second half. ... The second 20 minutes was a blowout."

His post-game message to his team was just as succinct and not as kind. Pressed on Goo's exact words, Kim Willoughby — Hawai'i's lone bright spot with 16 points and 12 rebounds — would only say that Goo's message was "team stuff."

"It's better left in the locker room," said Willoughby, who accounted for more than a third of her team's totals and played a team-high 35 minutes off the bench.

Whatever he said could not have been good. After a relentless rally that nearly erased a terrible first few minutes, the Rainbows were overwhelmed after halftime. Everything the Techsters touched in the first half seemed to warrant a whistle. In the second half, it turned to gold.

They hit nearly half their shots, rebounded many they missed and beat the Rainbow Wahine to the ball at nearly every opportunity, forcing 14 of Hawai'i's 24 turnovers and recycling half into baskets. All the energy UH expended to make up the early deficit seemed to leave it weary. And all the forced rest the Techsters had in the first half suddenly looked like the perfect ploy to stay fresh.

"We felt good being up three at the half with all the foul trouble," said Kurt Budke, Tech's first-year coach. "We've been a second-half team all year. If we can get to halftime with people at two fouls and under we feel like we can turn the heat up a little defensively.

"We thought if we could take away our little reaching and pushing fouls, we could do a good job defensively in the second half. We did a great job defensively. It's as good a half as we've played this year."

It was not what Hawai'i needed, particularly after its gritty first-half comeback had nearly evened the score and brought the small crowd into the game.

UH, which had a season-low seven turnovers in its last game, let Louisiana Tech get a quick start by turning it over seven times in the first seven minutes last night. The Techsters scored 12 straight to open a 14-3 advantage.

At that stage Willoughby began asserting herself, just as she had against LaTech in last year's WAC Tournament championship. She came off the bench four minutes into the game when the Rainbow post players couldn't cope with Tech inside. By halftime she had 10 points, eight rebounds, Tech's respect — and fingerprints.

Willoughby got six of her points from the foul line as she kept pounding the ball inside against the taller Techsters, who committed 11 fouls to UH's three. Cheryl Ford, the 2002 WAC Player of the Year, got her second foul and sat on the bench for the final 7:47 of the half.

Soon after, the Rainbows made their move. They cut a nine-point deficit (24-15) to two (26-24) and missed a shot that could have tied it. They wouldn't get another chance.

Hawai'i stayed with Tech for less than three minutes after the break. Then LaTech went on a 17-5 surge behind Ford, who finished with 17 points. There would be no more comebacks.

Was it Tech's finest half?

"Yes ma'am, it was," said Ford, the daughter of Utah Jazz "Mailman" Karl Malone. "We got kind of down in the first half fouling and reaching and stuff. We came out in the second half after he talked to us and we got focused and moved our feet and played good 'D.' "