Owls spoil 'Bows' senior send off, 70-49
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Krystal Frazier scored a team-high 19 points and Rice crashed Hawai'i's Senior Night, 70-49, in a Western Athletic Conference women's basketball game last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 921 including former Hawai'i coach Vince Goo watched seniors Jade Abele and Milia Macfarlane play their final home game.
Abele
"The game really didn't go as planned," said Macfarlane, who has started all 23 games this season for Hawai'i. "We have to forget about it and move on."
The second-place Owls won their season-high seventh consecutive game — the longest current streak in the WAC — and improved to 19-8 overall and 12-4 in the WAC. The seventh-place Rainbow Wahine dropped their third consecutive game and fell to 10-13 and 6-10.
"I just came into this game knowing it was my last and I just wanted to give it all I had," said Abele, who scored a team-high 19 points. "It was real disappointing that we lost the game, but I'm really proud that I've had a really good season here and I had a really good career here."
Hawai'i can still earn a first-round bye in the WAC Tournament, March 8 to 12, in Reno, Nev. For that to happen, Hawai'i must win its final two regular-season games on the road and needs San Jose State to defeat host Fresno State next week.
"We need to figure out a way to get a win and get some momentum going into the WAC Tournament," Jim Bolla said. "Once we get to the tournament, it's a whole different ballgame. Everyone is 0-0 and we start all over again."
Janevia Taylor added 13 points for Hawai'i.
Rice's Lauren Neaves scored 16 points, Annie Peck 13 and Michelle Woods added 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Led by its talented trio of post players — Peck and preseason All-WAC honorees Neaves and Woods — the Owls outscored the Rainbow Wahine 36-18 in the paint and outrebounded them 41-27.
"Those are things that have hurt us all year," Bolla said. "We just can't stop people from getting in the paint and getting easy scores."
Rice's strong inside-and-outside attack made it difficult for Hawai'i to double-team the Owls' post players. Frazier was 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
"We felt like our post could be effective if they didn't double them," Rice coach Cristy Mc-Kinney said. "It's harder for people to double us because we do have some balance now."
The Owls led 29-21 at intermission, increased their lead to 42-27 five minutes into the second half and extended it to 54-38 with 8 minutes remaining. Hawai'i pulled to within 56-46 on a free throw by Amy Sanders with 4:26 remaining, but that's as close as it would get the rest of the game.
Sanders, who entered the game as the team's leading scorer at 12 points per game, scored just one point and was 0 for 8 from the field.
In the first half, Macfarlane's putback capped a 7-2 run that pulled Hawai'i to 23-20. But Rice responded with a 6-1 run to end the half and led 29-21 going into the break.
Notes: Prior to last night's game, the UH band played the Australian national anthem in honor of Abele who is from Gold Coast, Australia. ... In the teams' last meeting, Rice defeated visiting Hawai'i, 70-68, on Jan. 27. ... Redshirt freshman guard Amy Kotani played in her first game last night and recorded one steal.
Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.
