Wahine bash Boise State, 79-48

Advertiser Staff

Suddenly, Boise is Hawai'i's favorite stop and the Rainbow Wahine are back in the top half of Western Athletic Conference basketball.

The 'Bows won their first road game in a big way last night by bashing Boise State, 79-48, at The Pavilion in Idaho. Hawai'i hit nearly 60 percent of its shots, pulling ahead by 30 in the opening minute of the second half and playing five freshmen near the end.

"I looked at my coaches during the game and said 'What's going on?' " UH head coach Vince Goo said. "I thought everybody played really relaxed. They weren't afraid of making errors or missing shots and they played really hard on defense."

The victory vaulted the Rainbows (15-13) into a three-way tie for fourth, at 8-9, in the WAC going into tomorrow's final regular-season games. UH plays at Texas-El Paso, which lost to San Jose State in overtime last night.

The Rainbow Wahine's performance against Boise State was a dramatic turnaround on the road. In their first seven games away from home, they hit 36 percent of their shots and averaged 55 points, and never lost by more than 10.

Against the Broncos they matched their season high for points, made 59 percent of their shots and outscored Boise State 36-8 in the final 16 minutes of the first half.

An 11-0 run gave Hawai'i the lead for good at 15-7. After a Boise State basket, the 'Bows scored the next 15 points with most coming inside as UH reversed the ball on the perimeter and found its post players open under the basket. Sophomore Jade Abele had a career-high 11 assists.

Christen Roper, Hawai'i's 6-foot-5 center, broke out of her offensive slump with 16 points and 10 rebounds i her first double-double in nearly three months. Roper hit all six first-half shots. In the previous four games she had just 12 points on 20-percent shooting.

"All season she's played great defense," Goo said. "I told her what she needed to do now is relax on offense and let the game come. I think she did that tonight. She seemed to play with less pressure on her."

That might have been true for all the Rainbow Wahine.

"I thought in the last home game they just tried too hard," Goo said. "When you do that you're not as efficient. We went into tonight's game with two objectives — have a lot of fun and play hard with a will to win They accomplished that."

Defensively, Hawai'i held Boise State (9-18, 6-11) to 32-percent shooting. The WAC's best 3-point shooting team went 6-for-20 beyond the arc. The 'Bows were 7-for-12.

Over and Back: Tomorrow's game at UTEP will be broadcast live on 1420 AM beginning at 3:45 p.m. HST. ... Boise State had won its last four home games before last night, beating three WAC second-place teams (SMU, Tulsa and Rice) during the streak. ... Sacred Hearts graduate Brittney Aiwohi, a walk-on freshman for UH, celebrated her birthday yesterday by hitting her first collegiate 3-pointer and getting her second block.