Hawai'i will host resurgent Fresno State
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Eleventh-ranked Louisiana Tech and Tulsa play for first place in the Western Athletic Conference tomorrow. Nearly every other WAC women's basketball team has set its sights on third — for now.
• WHAT: WAC series • WHERE: Stan Sheriff Center • WHEN: 7 p.m. tomorrow vs. Fresno State (9-7, 3-3) and 7:15 p.m. Saturday vs. Nevada (7-9, 0-6) • TV/RADIO: Both games will be broadcast live on KFVE and 1420 AM • TICKETS: $7 adults, $6 senior citizens, $4 students. • PARKING: $3
While the unbeaten Techsters and Golden Hurricane play in Ruston for sole possession of first, the next five WAC teams are separated by a game. That includes Hawai'i (9-5 overall, 3-2 WAC) and Fresno State (9-7, 3-3), who meet tomorrow at Stan Sheriff Center.
UH Wahine Basketball
The Rainbow Wahine also play Nevada (7-9, 0-6) Saturday.
Nevada has lost its last seven. Fresno State has proved more tenacious. The Bulldogs have as many wins as all last year despite a roller-coaster ride of a rookie season for new coach Stacy Johnson-Klein.
FSU opened its WAC season with a win over Rice — picked to finish second in the preseason — then lost by one to Tulsa. It won at Boise State, then fell by 22 at Texas-El Paso, which hasn't won since. It ran by Southern Methodist, which beat UH two weeks ago, then lost by 10 to conference bully Louisiana Tech.
FSU led Tech with 15:42 to go. All but three of its games under Johnson, who was an assistant at Oklahoma and Louisiana Tech, have been decided by 10 points or less.
FSU is as balanced as the Rainbow Wahine, with all-WAC players Lindsay Logan and Omelogo Udeze the only Bulldogs averaging more than 10 points. Udeze is also second in WAC rebounding, and FSU is third as a team. That is bolstered by 'Aiea graduate Aritta Lane, 2002 co-WAC Freshman of the Year, and all-WAC volleyball player Java Johnson, who has become a starter since joining the team nine games ago.
While Fresno has thrived on balance and boards, Hawai'i's success has been instigated by defense. Even when the offense is absent, such as Sunday against San Jose State when the halftime score was 14-13, defense has been constant.
That half was five points shy of the NCAA record for offensive futility for two teams. It was also the second time in four games the Rainbow Wahine held an opponent to 13 points in the first half. They are second in every WAC defensive category and 27th nationally in field-goal percentage defense.
They are also in danger of falling further out of first this week, despite a No. 38 ranking in the latest College.RPI.com. The Bulldogs are tough enough now to supply the push, despite losing their last 14 games to Hawai'i.
FSU hired Johnson-Klein on April 5, after the team's worst season in two decades. She inherited 10 players, including all five starters. Known as a gifted recruiter, she has already signed five players for next season, all from outside California.
This season, she has succeeded by making her team and its fans happy again.
Inside the cover of the media guide, Johnson-Klein implores prospective players to "Come and be a part of our family. Come and have the the time of your life."
She induced a school-record 1,683 to squeeze into North Gym (capacity 1,551) to watch the Tech game, and she has nine players averaging at least 10 minutes; eight have started.
OVER AND BACK: The start of Saturday's game has been pushed back 15 minutes, to 7:15 p.m., to prevent it from conflicting with KFVE's coverage of the UH men's game at Nevada. ... Hawai'i is officially the nation's least foul-prone team. At 11.6 fouls per game, UH ranks No. 1 statistically. ... UH senior Christen Roper is fifth nationally in shot blocks (3.4). ... The Rainbow Wahine are seventh nationally in fewest turnovers (14.1), and 27th in field goal-percentage defense (36.6). ...Radford graduate Heather Massey is a freshman for Nevada.
