Liepkalne comes to Hawaii’s rescue

With the Rainbow Wahine basketball team struggling to find its identity this season, Dita Liepkalne gave Hawaii a much-needed boost.

The sophomore from Latvia earned the first double-double of her career with a career-high 19 points and 12 rebounds as Hawaii snapped a three-game losing streak with a 60-57 victory over Tennessee Tech yesterday in the Island Imaging Paradise Classic.

The Rainbow Wahine (4-4) never trailed in the game, but had to fight to the last second to hold off the Golden Eagles (1-8) in front of a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 201.

"It shouldn't have (been that close)," Hawaii coach Jim Bolla said. "They did a great job on the offensive boards and we just missed too many layups."

Liepkalne nearly had her double-double in the first half with 13 points and nine rebounds. She only scored two baskets after halftime, but they were both crucial.

Hawaii led by as many as 12 in the game, but the Golden Eagles went on a 10-0 run early in the second half to pull to within one at 41-40.

Liepkalne answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing to push the lead to four. The Golden Eagles got to within one again, but a three-point play by Liepkalne ignited a 9-1 run that pushed Hawaii's lead back to nine with 6:35 left.

"Someone needed to step up," Bolla said. "(Dita) had foul problems (Friday) but came back and had a nice game for us."

The Rainbow Wahine shared the ball extremely well in the first half, assisting on all 12 made field goals. Freshman Keisha Kanekoa either scored or assisted on the first four baskets as Hawaii led 32-22 at halftime.

"We just came out ready to play as a team," Liepkalne said.

Hawaii entered the game expected to dominate a Tennessee Tech front line that featured just one player over 6 feet tall.

But the Rainbow Wahine tandem of 6-foot-3 Tanya Smith and 6-foot-4 Iwona Zagrobelna combined to go just 5-for-18 from the field and missed multiple open layups that kept the Golden Eagles in the game.

Tennessee Tech had five different 3-point attempts to tie the game in the final 3 minutes, but could not convert a single shot. The Rainbow Wahine defense forced a shot-clock violation with 36 seconds remaining, but came down the floor and missed another layup to give the Golden Eagles one last chance. Blair Bowens had a 3-pointer blocked by Smith with 4 seconds left and Holly Rogers' desperate attempt at the buzzer clanked off the front rim to end the game.

"We struggle to rebound out of the amoeba zone and we're missing easy layups," Bolla said. "It's not what we wanted."

Another disturbing trend for Hawaii is its inability to get to the free-throw line. The Rainbow Wahine attempted only 10 against the Golden Eagles and are last in the Western Athletic Conference in free-throw makes.

"We're not wanting contact," Bolla said. "Instead we want to avoid contact and everything is a fadeaway."

The Rainbow Wahine will look to correct that when they take on Oregon State tomorrow in the tournament finale at 7 p.m.