Posted on: Friday, February 25, 2005

UH's Bolla 'boggled' by loss to Tulsa

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

Tulsa's Jillian Robbins continued her magical run with 31 points and 11 rebounds while Hawai'i's post players pulled a vanishing act in a 72-62 Western Athletic Conference loss last night.

A crowd of 483 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched Hawai'i's two most talented post players, Brittany Grice and Alofa Toiaivao, struggle on both ends of the floor — combining for eight points and one rebound — as the Golden Hurricane swept the Rainbow Wahine for the second consecutive season.

"I need to put an ad in the paper: I'm looking for post players," Bolla said. "My post players disappeared. I don't know where they went.

"We need to figure out a way to get a win," Bolla continued. "You can't win with just an outside game."

Tulsa won its third consecutive game and improved to 17-8 overall and 9-6 in the WAC. Hawai'i dropped its second straight and fell to 10-12 and 6-9.

Bolla had declared last night a must-win game to give his team a chance of receiving a first-round bye in next month's WAC Tournament. However, Tulsa and Robbins — the reigning WAC Player of the Week — refused to go along with the plan.

"We wanted to come in and win," said Robbins, who has scored 27, 38 and 31 points in her last three games. "We were serious about it. Tonight, everybody played well so I didn't really have to step up, but I did."

Bolla hinted he may try a different lineup if Hawai'i's inside game continues to falter. Grice, who is nursing a knee injury, had four points and one rebound in 18 minutes. Toiaivao had four points in seven minutes before fouling out with 10:54 remaining.

"We may have to go to a smaller lineup and really get after it with a smaller lineup," Bolla said. "I'm boggled by this."

Tulsa's Megan Moody added 16 points. Hawai'i's Jade Abele scored 15, Amy Sanders 12, Janevia Taylor 11 and Milia Macfarlane 10.

The Golden Hurricane shot 50.9 percent (28 of 55) for the game and held the Rainbows to 34.8 percent (23 of 66).

"We're not shooting well," said Sanders, who shot 4 of 17 from the field. "We didn't stop them defensively. Every possession, they were making 3s or they were scoring inside. They were pretty much doing what they wanted."

Hawai'i closed to 47-41 on Macfarlane's 3-pointer, but Tulsa responded with a 20-9 run for a commanding 67-50 lead. Robbins scored 10 points during the surge.

"We all have to show up and want to play," Macfarlane said. "We have to keep that desire going throughout the game."

Tulsa outscored Hawai'i 36-22 in the paint. The Golden Hurricane also connected on 6 of 9 from 3-point range in the first half, and finished the game 7 of 12.

"There was just a good inside-outside combination today," Tulsa coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said.

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.