Rainbow Wahine aim to end road 'sickness'
Advertiser Staff
Fresno State does not have to imagine how bad the Rainbow Wahine basketball team feels going into their game today at North Gym. The Bulldogs have been there and done that, just last month.
They opened the WAC season 3-5, but have lost just once — at seventh-ranked Louisiana Tech — since. FSU (14-10) has clawed into third place in the WAC at 8-6 and is a victory from its first winning season in six years.
Maybe that will give Hawai'i hope today. Nothing else seems to have worked on the road where the Rainbows (12-10) are 0-6 and have fallen to fifth in the WAC at 6-7.
"It's like a sickness," senior guard Michelle Gabriel says. "We're just like the guys. I think it's contagious."
The Rainbow Wahine have come up just short every game. First they couldn't score enough, averaging 50 points and hitting 33 percent of their shots in the first four losses.
On this trip they've put the offense into overdrive, averaging 68 points, but given up season highs defensively to San Jose State and Nevada:
• SMU 66, UH 56: The Mustangs out-score Hawai'i 15-3 to end the game.
• Louisiana Tech 60, UH 52: The Rainbows cut a 45-24 deficit to 53-48 in a 10-minute surge, but get out-rebounded 43-28 — 15-6 on the offensive end — and fall to 0-9 against the Techsters.
• Rice 54, UH 50: Hawai'i gets outscored 10-3 in the final five minutes to negate a 16-6 advantage on the foul line.
• Tulsa 45, UH 42: The Rainbows cut a 13-point halftime deficit to 43-42 with 4:21 remaining but never score again as they hit just 27 percent of their shots.
• SJSU 71, UH 67: Hawai'i cuts its deficit to one four times but can never catch the Spartans, who lost by 14 here. San Jose point guard Cricket Williams is 10-for-13 from the line; the Rainbows go 7-for-12.
• Nevada 75, UH 69: The last-place Wolf Pack scores the final nine points. Hawai'i is beaten 19-12 on the foul line.
Going into this afternoon's game, the Rainbow Wahine have lost five of their past six while the Bulldogs have won five of six. FSU is coming off a 96-80 victory over SJSU, which beat the Bulldogs up north. 'Aiea graduate Aritta Lane scored a career-high 23 points against the Spartans.
In the last two games, opposing point guards have combined for 41 points and 18 assists against Hawai'i. Today, UH takes on Lindsay Logan, a three-time all-WAC player, who is FSU's career leader in assists and 3-pointers. She needs just one basket to become the fourth Bulldog with 1,500 points.
OVER AND BACK: Fresno has not defeated Hawai'i since 1991, losing the last 15. ... Stacy Johnson-Klein became the winningest first-year coach in FSU history Thursday. ... The Bulldogs' eight WAC wins are the most in a dozen years. ... The Rainbows have dropped to No. 80 in the CollegeRPI.com power ratings. ... Louisiana Tech, which clinched its 11th consecutive regular-season championship (nine Sun Belt, two WAC) Thursday, is No. 18 in the rating. FSU is No. 105 — third-best in the WAC.
