Spartans roll past Rainbow Wahine
Advertiser Staff
The Rainbow Wahine basketball team ended its three-game Western Athletic Conference road trip with a 73-45 whimper against San Jose State yesterday at The Event Center.
The 28-point loss to the Spartans (10-2, 2-1) was the worst for Hawai'i (3-9, 1-2) since an 82-53 defeat at Louisiana Tech in 2002.
"I think we could have played with a little more courage on offense tonight," UH coach Vince Goo said. "Some of that could be attributed to inexperience. We played against a team with a lot of seniors. They took it to us."
Hawai'i sophomore center Callie Spooner did not play in yesterday's game after spraining her right ankle when she stepped on a basketball during a pre-game shootaround. Freshman center Brittany Grice started in her place.
"We were counting on Callie to be in there and doing some banging on the boards," Goo said.
San Jose State's Chenne Tuimoloau scored a career-high 20 points and Cricket Williams added 15 points and 10 assists. Tuimoloau sank six of the Spartans' season-high 12 3-pointers.
"In their last game they were 2 for 17 (from 3-point range)," Goo said. "But they got really hot tonight."
Hawai'i's April Atuaia scored a team-high 16 points and Jade Abele notched the team's first double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Hawai'i shot 29 percent (16 of 55), while the SJSU shot 34 percent (27 of 79). The Spartans forced 20 Hawai'i turnovers and outrebounded UH, 52-44, including 22-11 on the offensive end.
In the first half, Abele's basket pulled Hawai'i to 10-9, but San Jose State went on a 13-3 run for a 23-12 lead. The Spartans led 28-14 at halftime.
In the second half, Amber Lee's layup cut the deficit to 38-28, but that's as close as UH would get. San Jose State went on a 19-0 run and took a commanding 57-28 lead. The Spartans led by as many as 33 points in the second half.
UH is scheduled to return home today after going 1-2 on its first road trip.
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