Abele, Willoughby lift UH over Wolf Pack
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
On a night when Hawai'i's offense flatlined, Jade Abele and Kim Willoughby shocked the Rainbow Wahine basketball team back to life in the second half against Nevada.
Willoughby scored eight of her team-high 14 points in the second half and Abele capped a thrilling comeback by sinking two free throws with five seconds left in the game to lift the Rainbow Wahine over the Wolf Pack, 58-57, in a Western Athletic Conference game at the Stan Sheriff Center last night.
The duo worked together in the closing seconds, with UH trailing 57-56.
With 12.3 seconds left, Abele passed the ball into Willoughby who passed it right back. Abele drove the right side of the key and was fouled by Amber Young.
"I was just thinking I've got to make these two free throws," Abele said. "Down by one, it was pressure free throws."
A crowd of 1,114 watched Hawai'i win its third straight game and improve to 11-5 and 5-2 in the Western Athletic Conference. With the win, Hawai'i moved into a second-place tie with Tulsa and SMU in the WAC. Nevada dropped its ninth consecutive game and fell to 7-11 and 0-8.
Nevada had a chance for a final shot with five seconds remaining, but point guard Laura Ingham, under heavy pressure by Hawai'i's guards, stumbled just past halfcourt and failed to get a shot off as time expired.
"I think we're probably the best 0-8 team right now in the country," said a tearful Nevada head coach Ada Gee afterwards. "If our team can bring that kind of effort and play as well as we did tonight, we're going to get our share of the next 10 games. We're going to get our first win."
Last night, it appeared Nevada would get its first conference victory. The Wolf Pack led by as many as 17 points in the first half and 14 in the second. For the game, Nevada shot 51 percent (25-of-49), while Hawai'i shot 32 percent (20-of-52).
"Nevada came out and played really hard," UH center Christen Roper said. "They knew they could shoot it."
Trailing 32-22 at halftime, Hawai'i coach Vince Goo challenged his post players and his guards to step up.
"We needed our post players to play with a little more courage defensively because they just got cleaned in the first half," Goo said. "The second thing was our perimeter people needed to play with more courage from the offensive end."
Goo's pep talk apparently worked as Hawai'i stormed back in the second half.
With Nevada leading, 51-41, Hawai'i went on a 13-4 run to close to 55-54 with 3:41 left. During the run, Willoughby scored six points and April Atuaia hit a clutch 3-pointer.
Hawai'i eventually tied the game at 56 on Willoughby's short jumper inside the key with 1:28 remaining.
The two teams then traded missed shots before Nevada's Laura Ingham drove the right side of the key and drew a foul from Willoughby who tried for a block with 12.3 seconds left.
Ingham missed the first free throw, but made the second, giving Nevada a 57-56 lead and setting the stage for Abele's winning free throws.
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