UH women rout Wolf Pack
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Two days after suffering its worst loss of the season that had its coach questioning his team's toughness, the Rainbow Wahine basketball team rebounded with a convincing 71-43 victory over visiting Nevada last night.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Amy Sanders scored a career-high 25 points and Hawai'i first-year head coach Jim Bolla won his first Western Athletic Conference game before 295 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Nevada's Andrea Sitton and Hawai'i's Milia Macfarlane battle for a rebound in the first half. Hawai'i won the WAC contest, 71-43.
"We wanted to show teams we're not soft," Hawai'i co-captain Milia Macfarlane said. "This is our home."
In his strongest comments so far this season, Bolla challenged his players to get tougher mentally and physically after visiting Fresno State routed the Rainbow Wahine, 70-48, on Thursday.
In a postgame interview, Bolla called his team's performance "soft" and added opponents would continue to bully Hawai'i if it didn't get more aggressive.
Last night, the Rainbow Wahine (5-4 overall, 1-1 WAC) answered their coach's challenge with a relentless offensive attack and inspired defense against the Wolf Pack (4-8, 0-2).
"We worked (Friday) on banging people around in practice," Macfarlane said. "You have to have that mentality that no one is going to get through."
Hawai'i's man-to-man and 2-3 zone defenses held the Wolf Pack to 26 percent shooting (14 of 54), while the Rainbow Wahine shot a season-best 52 percent (28 of 54). Hawai'i also outrebounded the Wolf Pack, 41-29, and outscored them 16-6 on second chance points.
"It was important to play like we did today," Sanders said. "If we play like this every day we're going to be a great team. If we kept playing like we did against Fresno, all the teams are going to come out thinking just beat Hawai'i up."
Janevia Taylor scored 13 points and had six rebounds, and Macfarlane 10 points for Hawai'i, which had 10 players score at least two points in the game. Meghan McGuire scored 20 for Nevada.
"We had a bunch of people come off the bench and contribute, too," Bolla said. "That was really good. That's the way this offense is. Every night someone is going to have the opportunity to score. Tonight was Amy's night."
Hawai'i led by as many as 20 points in the first half and increased its lead to 30 after intermission. Sanders scored 14 second-half points and finished shooting 9 of 13 from the field, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
"It finally all clicked," said Sanders, whose previous high was 13 points. "It was just one of those nights. I know I can shoot. I just have to get my nerves down."
UH's Amy Sanders, who scored a career-high 25, shoots over Nevada's Meghan McGuire.
The Wolf Pack missed their first six shots and trailed 33-13 at the half.
"They just came out real aggressive and we didn't respond," Nevada coach Kim Gervasoni said.
Hawai'i forced 19 turnovers and recycled those miscues into 19 points. Nevada, which dropped to 0-9 in Honolulu, made only 14 field goals.
Notes: Hawai'i's next three conference games are on the road — San Jose State on Jan. 8, SMU on Jan. 13 and Louisiana Tech on Jan. 15.
Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.
