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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, January 30, 2003

Rainbow Wahine facing road block

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

When Hawai'i plays Rice tonight in a Western Athletic Conference women's basketball game, it will only be the Owls' seventh home game.

They should play more at Autry Court. No one else wants to, particularly the Rainbow Wahine.

Hawai'i has lost all four it has played at Autry, an old gym with florescent lighting behind one basket and a large blue curtain — hiding another court — behind the other. UH coach Vince Goo's strategy for this trip to Houston was to "change everything we could."

His team left on its first red-eye flight in eight years Monday. After they arrived Tuesday, coaches allowed the players to nap for one hour before forcing them to go to the mall. UH practiced at 6:15 p.m., then studied, with more than a little "textbook tilting" as players struggled to stay awake.

They were "allowed" to sleep at 11 p.m., with no bed checks necessary. Goo said yesterday's film sessions and 1 p.m. practice went surprisingly well. "It wasn't as bad today, it felt good," he said. "It will be better tomorrow."

He is as optimistic as he can be going into yet another crucial road series and coming off Saturday's last-second victory over Nevada. Hawai'i overcame a 17-point deficit against a team that has not won a WAC game.

Now the Rainbows (11-5) share second place with SMU and Tulsa — Saturday afternoon's opponent — at 5-2. Rice (6-10) is tied for sixth at 3-4. It is a surprising slot for a team that returned its four top scorers and swept UH during the regular season last year.

Hawai'i got even with an emphatic 59-36 semifinal victory over Rice in the WAC Tournament, but that was the first time it truly owned the Owls. Six weeks earlier, at Autry, the Rainbows shot but 20 percent in a 57-43 loss.

"We don't match up well," Goo says. "We're slower, more deliberate. They are quicker and have better athletes. The team that plays their game is going to win."

Johnetta Hayes, a 6-foot-4 center, leads the Owls with an average of 14 points and nine rebounds. She is one of eight Rice players from Texas. Saturday, Hawai'i faces Allison Curtin, the WAC's top scorer and 10th in the country at 23.3 points a game. The two-time all-Big Ten guard transferred to Tulsa from Illinois for her final year.

No Rainbow Wahine has scored 20 points this season, but five players are averaging more than nine.

OVER AND BACK: Both road games will be broadcast live on 1420 AM, at 2:45 p.m. today and 9:45 a.m. Saturday. ... UH senior Christen Roper needs one block to tie Michelle Suman for second on the all-time WAC list. Roper has 250. Debbie Diamond holds the record of 268. ... Cheryl Ford became the first Louisiana Tech player this season to earn WAC Player of the Week honors. Ford averaged 18 rebounds and 15.5 points last week to help 10th-ranked LaTech move into sole possession of first place and extend its winning streak to 13 games. Ford's 20 rebounds against Tulsa were the most by a Tech player in 22 years. ... Hawai'i has won all five games this season decided by five points or less. ... Nevada was the first team in the last 47 games to shoot better than 50 percent against UH, and only the second in the last 86 games. The other was New Mexico, in the 2001 WNIT semifinals. ... UH is No. 35 in the latest CollegeRpi.com power ratings. Tech is the WAC's top team at No. 18.