Rainbows face Spartans, WAC's No. 2 scorer

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

San Jose State's Cricket Williams leads the Western Athletic Conference with six 20-point games this season and will draw much attention when the Rainbow Wahine play the Spartans tomorrow at the Stan Sheriff Center. Tipoff is 5 p.m.

Both Hawai'i (8-5 overall, 2-2 WAC) and San Jose State (6-7 and 2-2) are looking to snap two-game conference losing streaks.

Williams, a 5-foot-6 junior point guard, ranks second in the WAC in scoring (19.8) and is coming off a career scoring performance in an 86-77 loss at SMU on Jan. 11 where she nearly recorded a statistical triple-double with 32 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. She needs just 19 points to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career.

"She's very dangerous," Hawai'i coach Vince Goo said. "She can score from all over, from different angles and different distances. She's an outstanding offensive player."

Williams will be the third all-conference player Hawai'i has played against since Louisiana Tech on Jan. 11. The Lady Techsters have two Preseason All-WAC players — center Cheryl Ford and guard Amber Obaze.

Of those three players, Williams is the quickest and has been known to hurt teams with a wide array of moves: slicing drives, 3-point shots and even post-up maneuvers normally reserved for bigger players.

•	Game facts What: Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Who: Hawai'i (8-5 overall, 2-2 WAC) vs. San Jose State (6-7, 2-2) When: Tomorrow, 5 p.m. Where: Stan Sheriff Center Live broadcasts: Radio (1420 AM), television (KFVE, Ch. 5) Admission: $7 adults, $6 senior citizens, $4 UH students and ages 17-younger.

"We're going to put Michelle, Milia and Trisha on (Williams) and we're going to play with seven people," Goo said, jokingly. "We're going to triple team her — if it's allowed."

Even that may not help against Williams. Hawai'i forward Kim Willoughby, who played against Williams in high school in Louisiana, called her undefendable.

"She's such a great athlete," Willoughby said. "She'll find a way. Every time I see her play basketball, I think of how people think of me in volleyball. She's a really great all-around basketball player."

Hawai'i center Christen Roper said one of the keys to stopping San Jose State is stopping Williams.

"She's basically the heart and soul of their team," Roper said. "She makes them go. If we can shut her down in some way, maybe she'll get down on herself and the rest of the team will slow down and clam up."

Hawai'i holds a 31-5 record against San Jose State. Hawai'i coaches and players called San Jose State an athletic and unpredictable team with a good supporting cast.

"You can't look past the other guard (Jessica Kellogg), she's good too," Goo said. "The inside people are very aggressive to the boards. It's definitely not a one-person team."

Hawai'i will begin a three-game conference homestand starting tomorrow. Hawai'i will play Fresno State on Thursday and Nevada on Saturday.

"We need to win all three," Goo said. "Then we need to take our show on the road and win some ball games on the road. We were very disappointed against SMU (on Jan. 9), but felt really good with the Louisiana Tech performance (on Jan. 11)."