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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, January 30, 2005

Tulsa tramples turnover-prone Hawai'i, 83-64

Advertiser Staff

For the second consecutive game, Hawai'i committed 26 turnovers to match its season high, resulting in an 83-64 thrashing by Tulsa yesterday in Tulsa, Okla.

Megan Moody scored a career-high 26 points and Tulsa recycled Hawai'i's turnovers into 26 points in the Western Athletic Conference game at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

"We're making some bad decisions," first-year Hawai'i coach Jim Bolla said. "We started off the game with a couple of good plays, but then we started making some bad passes. It wasn't because of the defense. It was because of poor decisions."

The Golden Hurricane (14-5 overall, 6-3 WAC) finished with 15 steals and drained a season-high 10 3-pointers. Moody tied a career-high with five 3-point baskets.

Hawai'i (8-8, 4-5) returns today having gone 0-2 on this road trip. On Thursday, Hawai'i committed 26 turnovers and lost at Rice, 70-68. The Rainbow Wahine will begin a three-game WAC homestand starting with San Jose State Saturday.

"We've taken some steps back on this trip," Bolla said. "We need to regroup and start getting focused. We've got people who aren't focused. We can't physically show up and think people are going to let us win games. We have to play hard."

Hawai'i's Amy Sanders scored 18 points and Jade Abele 12. Tulsa's Kara Pongonis scored 14 and Emily Jaskowiak 13.

Tulsa's All-WAC player Jillian Robbins was held to eight points and six rebounds in 26 minutes. Robbins entered the game averaging 16 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

In the first half, Hawai'i led 20-17 after a basket by Abele, but the Rainbow Wahine were outscored 16-4 in the final 10:30 before intermission. Moody scored six points during the surge as Tulsa took a 33-24 halftime lead.

Hawai'i cut Tulsa's lead to 35-28 on a pair of free throws by Abele, but that's as close as the Rainbow Wahine would get.

Tulsa increased its lead to 25 points twice at 70-45 and 72-47, and the Golden Hurricane never let its lead dip below 14 the rest of the game.

Bolla said he was pleased with the performance of some of his reserves. One of those players, Saundra Cariaga, scored her first basket of the season.

"We've had some of our young kids play pretty well," Bolla said. "The season's not over yet. We still have half the WAC season to go."

Bolla said he may shuffle the starting lineup for upcoming games. In its last four games, Hawai'i has started forwards Abele, Sanders and Brittany Grice, center Alofa Toiaivao and guard Milia Macfarlane.

"We've got to look and see what's going to work for us," Bolla said. "There's probably a pretty good chance that we're going to change the lineup again. It worked well for the two games at home (in victories against UTEP, 74-63, and Boise State, 67-55), but the last two games we've really struggled with some of the positions."

Note

Tulsa's 83 points was the most scored by a Hawai'i opponent this season.

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