Rainbow Wahine ready for WAC
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
In the past three years, the University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine basketball team has been good enough to finish second in the Western Athletic Conference, but not good enough to get into the NCAA Tournament.
• WHAT: WAC openers • WHERE: Stan Sheriff Center • WHEN: 7 p.m. tomorrow vs. UTEP (5-5) and 7 p.m. Saturday vs. Boise State (3-7). • TV/RADIO: Both games will be broadcast live on KFVE and 1420 AM • TICKETS: $7 adults, $6 senior citizens, $4 students. • PARKING: $3
After a 6-3 preseason where all their losses came against ranked opponents, the Rainbow Wahine are staring at another must-win WAC season, beginning tomorrow with Texas-El Paso (5-5). They also play Boise State (3-7) Saturday at Stan Sheriff Center.
UH women's basketball
Hawai'i has won 77 percent of its regular-season games since joining the WAC in 1996-97, but has gone to just one NCAA Tournament. It is a disappointment three consecutive WNIT bids have not erased.
Going into this conference season, Hawai'i knows only that it has to win, starting with the Miners and ending with No. 17 Louisiana Tech, the WAC's overwhelming favorite and sole ranked team.
The Techsters are also the only other conference team in the Top 50 of both the CollegeRPI.com and WomensCollegeHoops.com power rankings. The Rainbows are actually three steps ahead of Tech in CollegeRPI, 27 to 30, thanks to a strength of schedule rated 16th.
Southern Methodist is the only other WAC team in the top 110 of that power ranking going into the first week of conference play. UTEP rates 148th and Boise 213th.
Boise State, with a new coach and tendency to turn the ball over — it averages 24 turnovers a game — is still searching for a combination that works. UTEP might have found something.
The Miners were one of the country's worst teams in Keitha Green's first season as coach. She brought in nine new faces for her second and even their losses look better; three have been by five points or fewer.
Green has players from seven countries and starters from Bosnia (Dragana Zoric), Lithuania (Vaida Zagurskyte) and Australia (Kia Dowell). Zoric and Zagurskyte — who played for junior college champion Seward County — are among the top five in conference scoring.
Reserve Romie DeAnda is the current WAC Player of the Week after scoring a career-high 24 points to help UTEP open the WAC season as high as .500 for the first time in five years. DeAnda was 1-for-12 in her first five games.
Her emergence has given the WAC's second-best scoring team yet another threat, and Hawai'i another challenge. The Rainbow Wahine are in the top three of every conference defensive statistic.
Hawai'i has not played since Dec. 21, but the time off has been productive. Volleyball All-American Kim Willoughby joined the team a week ago and coach Vince Goo says Willoughby will play tomorrow.
"She walked into her first practice and knew everything from last year," Goo said. "We also put some new things in and she's right up with the rest of the team as far as those are concerned. She's maybe a month ahead of where she was at this point last year.
"Kim definitely gives us a different look and it works against anybody," Goo added. "When you're an athlete like that you can play against anybody. She's going to play at a different level because she's going to be a lot more confident early."
OVER AND BACK: WAC teams are 51-46 in non-conference games. They are 3-11 against ranked teams, with Louisiana Tech defeating Texas Tech and New Mexico, and SMU upsetting Oklahoma. ... UTEP finished last season 3-25 and Boise State was 10-20.
