Rainbow Wahine rout Broncos, 62-44
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
With a take-no-shortcuts attitude and a trio of post players jumping alone just below the rim, the University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine overwhelmed Boise State, 62-44, last night in a Western Athletic Conference basketball game played before 1,283 at Stan Sheriff Center.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Nearly 70 percent of the Rainbows' scoring came from their post players, who hit 70 percent of their shots. The Broncos, who played five guards at times, had no answer for 6-footers Christen Roper (17 points), Kim Willoughby (14) and Natasja Allen (9 points, 10 rebounds).
Hawai'i guard Michelle Gabriel raced down court with one of her team-high three steals as Boise State's Lynnette Grondin gave chase.
"It's kind of hard to guard them (guards)," Roper said. "They're fast and they're little and I lose sight of them. But their tallest player was Jamie Hawkins (6-1) and they had 5-8 guards coming in for her. I'm 6-5 — almost three-quarters of a foot taller. We could have had (wing player) Jade (Abele) go in and play post."
Boise State (3-9, 0-2 WAC) also had no offense, literally, for 9 1/2 minutes in the first half as Hawai'i (8-3, 2-0) held the Broncos scoreless. Nearly every BSU possession turned into a race to beat the 30-second shot clock as the Rainbow Wahine defense denied all options.
"They performed their defensive assignments extremely well," UH coach Vince Goo said. "We knew their strengths and tried to take some of those things away."
That transformed a 14-9 UH start into a drama-ending 27-9 gap. The UH starters played intermittently from then on, saving their energy for the first road games of the season — at SMU Thursday and 17th-ranked Louisiana Tech Saturday. All 13 Rainbows saw action last night and 10 scored. Reserve Amy Sanders, at 26 minutes, got the most court time.
The Broncos, picked to finish last in the conference even before they lost their starting center to injury, got their fifth consecutive loss. They have a new coach (Jen Warden) who has at least seven new players coming in next season. Until then, Boise State is simply working on getting better and — somehow — bigger.
"Just breeding a winning attitude really is the hardest thing," said Warden, who helped Colorado to seven NCAA Tournaments as an assistant coach the past 10 years. "Our players need to understand that winning is a culture and they need to develop it and thrive in it. These games challenge them to not be complacent."
The Rainbow Wahine took a 2-to-1 advantage in points (55-27) with 8:57 remaining and a nearly 3-to-1 advantage on the boards (34-13) early in the second half. Their posts missed just seven shots and Roper terrorized anyone who drove, stuffing six shots including one she caught.
Warden still wished her team would have penetrated more.
"Our concern coming in obviously was their size," Warden said. "To be honest, where they hurt us most is, offensively we could not get going in the first half. Our players need to understand how to step up and attack and not back down. In the second half they did a better job, but it took 20 minutes to learn the hard way."
Hawai'i's first three baskets came from under the basket, off assists from Abele and April Atuaia. The Broncos closed to 6-5 with what would be their biggest offensive flurry of the game. Clearly, that wasn't going to be enough as they were outscored 40-14 in the paint.
UH closed the first half with four freshmen and Abele. That group didn't give anything up as former Iolani point guard Trisha Nishimoto banked in a 45-footer at the buzzer to make it 30-13. Hawai'i played five freshmen near the end, during a period Goo called the only negative in his team's opening WAC week.
"We had some people who haven't had a lot of playing time and they had a bunch tonight and they made a lot of mental mistakes," he said. "That was disappointing.
"But, we showed we can play pretty good defense. Tonight we showed we can play with composure and not take shortcuts. I would think it was a very boring game to watch, but we took care of what we needed on defense and we weren't overly exciting on offense but we did what we needed there, too."
OVER AND BACK: Waipahu's Jodi Nakashima is a reserve for Boise State. The sophomore was one of six Broncos on the WAC All-Academic team last season. The 5-7 Nakashima played middle blocker for the Roosevelt volleyball team. ... Two games into her second basketball season, UH volleyball All-America Kim Willoughby leads the Rainbow Wahine in scoring, averaging 13.5 points.
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