Abele hurts ankle as ailing Hawai'i pays UTEP visit

• UH women's statistics (graphic)

Advertiser Staff

Most years, this would be the Western Athletic Conference road trip to heal the basketball soul. Hawai'i is 16-0 against UTEP and Boise State.

Instead, the depleted Rainbow Wahine (4-10, 2-3 WAC) face tonight's game at El Paso with trepidation. They are only a bit more upbeat about Saturday's game at Boise State.

Junior forward Jade Abele, who leads UH in every meaningful statistic, is on crutches after "pulling up lame" at yesterday's practice. After 3 hours of examinations and X-rays, her injury was diagnosed as torn scar tissue on the same ankle she fractured six years ago. She will remain on crutches until tonight, when she can test her ankle.

Guard Pam Tambini and center Brittany Grice did not make the trip. Both freshmen were starting before getting injured. Tambini has been out seven games with stress fractures. Grice hurt one ankle before the San Jose State game and the other last Saturday before the loss to 12th-ranked Louisiana Tech.

The Miners (8-6, 3-2) appear very healthy. They have won their last three, shocking Rice, which upset LaTech, then sweeping at Boise and Fresno State. Vaida Zagurskyte is averaging 15 points a game. The Lithuanian is one of seven foreign players at UTEP.

"They're good," UH coach Vince Goo said. "It's an older bunch with a lot of international kids. It's the best UTEP team I've seen. We need to control the tempo and defend. They've got a lot of people who can score and five, six or seven of them have their favorite moves. We have to take those things away. I don't know if we can do that."

After tonight's game at Don Haskins Center, Hawai'i goes to Boise. The Broncos (6-8, 3-2) are tied for third with UTEP and coming off victories at Fresno and Nevada. Sophomore Jamie Hawkins is their leading scorer with 14 points a game.

Hawai'i, the fourth-youngest Division I team in the country, is getting a third of its scoring and rebounding from freshmen. Janevia Taylor will make her sixth straight start at point guard tonight. She leads the six freshmen in scoring, at six a game, and is coming off a career-high 16 points against LaTech.

"She has a sense for the game," Goo says. "She runs the offense how we want and she's a really good vocal leader on the floor. It's hard for a freshman to do that, but she's taken it upon herself. She's very coachable and wants to learn."

OVER AND BACK: Both games will be broadcast live on 1420 AM. ... Hawai'i remains first in the WAC in field-goal percentage defense, holding teams to .357 shooting. ... The Rainbow Wahine are last in rebounding, giving up eight more than they get. ... Hawai'i closes the first half next week with home games against Rice (Jan. 29) and Tulsa (Jan. 31).