What the University of Hawaii women's basketball team saw Saturday was the light of respectability following an 81-78 overtime win over the WAC rival Cowgirls.
The Wahine (12-4, 5-1) earned a split on the conference's most brutal road trip, a trek that started at 4 a.m. Tuesday and included three flight delays and a bus without a working heater during a snowfall.
Hawaii has little time to catch its collective breath, although this week's game is no breather. The Wahine host Pacific Division leader San Diego State (11-5, 6-0) Saturday at 3 p.m.
The Aztecs, Hawaii's travel partner, won at Wyoming Thursday, 54-48, and ran their winning streak to six at Colorado State yesterday, 70-53. Thursday, the Wahine lost at CSU, 84-73, a game that was closer than the final score indicates.
"We asked a lot of the kids this trip and they came through," said Hawaii coach Vince Goo.
"Playing at 7,200 feet above sea level (Saturday), they hit a wall. We thought our conditioning was good but, in the second half, we had people who could hardly run. The players put it in second gear and really pushed themselves.
"They had played a great 40 minutes and then we asked for another five minutes. They showed a lot of heart. They met the challenge."
Saturday, Hawaii avenged its one loss in Laramie on the last-second heroics of junior forward Nani Cockett. Cockett, who played all but two minutes, scored seven of her game-high 29 points in overtime, the last two points coming on a jumper with six seconds left.
Two weeks ago, Cockett's 3-pointer with a second left in regulation sent the game into overtime at Fresno State. The Wahine went on to defeat the Bulldogs.
"Nani took over the game in overtime," said Goo. "She had an outstanding game. She's come through whenever we've needed her to this season."
Sophomore guard BJ Itoman continued to impress, not with her scoring but with tenacious defense. Ironically, Itoman's only basket of the game came on a driving layup with 16 seconds to go in regulation that forced the OT.
Senior center Kendis Leeburg had another strong showing with 21 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Raylene Howard added 14 points.
Wyoming, the WAC's leading 3-point shooting team, was 6 of 20 from long range. Hawaii's pressure man defense denied the Cowgirls their favorite shots.
Both teams could have run away with the game had the free-throw shooting been better. The Wahine were 22 of 33 from the line while the Cowgirls were 14 of 24.
Besides playing at home, Hawaii has the advantage of playing just one game this week. San Diego State hosts Texas-El Paso Wednesday before traveling to the Special Events Arena.
Yesterday's flight home was delayed slightly but it was nothing compared to the beginning of Hawaii's trip. After a light practice at 6 a.m. Tuesday, the Wahine learned their mid-morning flight likely would be canceled.
The team left Honolulu at 1:30 p.m. and, 15 hours later, got into Denver at 1:10 a.m. Snow had closed the ramp to I-25, so the bus driver drove through metropolitan Denver.
According to Goo, when the heater on the bus did not work, the driver decided to drive as fast as he could to get to Fort Collins.
"Going that fast, the wind chill was about minus 50," said Goo. "We were freezing."
The team finally got to bed at 4 a.m. Wednesday.
But a huge three-game road trip is coming up - and head coach Riley Wallace said that will be the Rainbows' biggest test of the season.
UH plays at San Diego State on Saturday, then it's up to San Jose State on Jan. 30 and Fresno State on Feb. 1.
"After those three games we'll be halfway through the WAC (schedule)," Wallace said yesterday. "And we'll have five homes games and three road games left.
"So if we still have the good record after these three games, then we can consider ourselves a serious contender."
Wallace said he was playing "What if?" in his head yesterday.
"The loss to Maryland was certainly legitimate," he said. "They're beating everyone in sight.
"The losses to St. Mary's and Air Force hurt. But we got lucky against Cal Poly so it kind of balances out. Overall, we have to be happy with our record so far."
The Rainbows took care of business last week, beating Colorado State, 85-65, on Thursday and getting past Wyoming, 70-58, Saturday night.
"It looks like it was easy when you look at the final scores, but they were both hard-fought games," Wallace said. "And that's better for us to have tough games to get ready to go on the road."
As usual, Anthony Carter was the main man for the Rainbows. The junior transfer has added another rocket to his arsenal: an effective outside shot.
He scored 16 points and had nine assists against the Rams, despite being in first-half foul trouble.
And he led an otherwise-lethargic UH offense against the Cowboys with a game-high 22 points, hitting a sizzling 10-of-13 from the floor.
Plus, he's playing with a dinged wrist.
"He hasn't complained to me about it," Wallace said. "There's probably a little sprain in it.
"But he's been shooting so well he'll probably keep the tape on it. You know how shooters are."
Wallace said that Carter's court leadership has been his biggest contribution, along with the team lead in scoring and assists.
"He's a pretty special player," Wallace said. "He keeps the team with him because he's so unselfish.
"Plus, when he gets on them, it's in a nice way - and they know when he does say something it's from the heart."
Wallace said that the Rainbows will especially work on their offense against a man-to-man defense this week, along with preparing specifically for the three opponents.
"We're attacking the zone (defense) all right, but our man offense has slipped," he said. "Part of it is because we were spending so much practice time getting ready for the WAC teams, spending maybe three-fourths of our time on defense."
He said that the team shouldn't have any trouble keeping its focus for the upcoming trip.
"It's a chance for a lot of our guys to play in front of their family and friends, and that usually helps - like it did at Vegas," he said. "(Micah) Kroeger, (Eric) Ambrozich, (Seth) Sundberg, (Danny) Furlong, (Aaron) Curry - they're all from California."