Tuesday, December 22, 1998
Wahine just
tough enough
to win
Loyola Marymount
By Al Chase
hangs in there, but stellar free
throw shooting pulls
it out for UH
Star-BulletinThere wasn't a whole lot of pleasure expressed by the Hawaii Wahine after their 78-66 victory over Loyola Marymount last night in the first round of the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
On too many occasions the Wahine machine resembled an old clunker putt putting along badly in need of an engine tune-up.
"We weren't ready to execute like we wanted to. We weren't playing hard. We let them outplay us. All of that added to an ugly night," said UH point guard BJ Itoman.
Give the Lions credit. They kept the outcome in doubt until the final 1:35 when the Wahine converted 9-of-10 free throws in an 11-6 finish. Itoman scored nine of those points and finished with 20, tying her career high.
Loyola Marymount (3-6), after falling behind 11-1 in the first three minutes, made numerous runs at Hawaii. The Lions cut the deficit to four points or less 11 times in the first half and whittled the UH margin to six or less points seven times in the second half.Taryn Reynolds, once LMU's starting point guard before an injury, now relishes coming off the bench as the shooting guard. The 5-7 sophomore showed why last night, scoring 13 of her 22 points after intermission with a variety of jumpers around the key.
She had help from starting 5-6 freshman point guard Rosa Bernasconi and 6-3 junior forward Dana Hunter, both with 11 points. Hunter also had a game-high 16 rebounds as the Lions controlled the boards, 54-32, the biggest advantage any opponent has held over UH this season.
"They outplayed us. They played a lot harder. They were getting three and four shots," UH head coach Vince Goo said. "It was apparent in the first half and it got worse in the second half."
"We had breakdowns on offense and defense. We weren't very happy with our defensive performance," said UH forward Raylene Howard, who scored 29 points. "Coach's philosophy is that it all starts with defense. When you're misfiring on defense, you can't get your offense going. We didn't settle into some of our offensive patterns as much as we'd like."
One saving factor for the Wahine (7-3) was their success rate from the field in the second half. After hitting just 13 of 37 (.351) first-half field goal attempts, they made 13 of 23 (.565) in the second half.
Another positive factor for UH was nine turnovers to 18 assists vs. 18 turnovers to 12 assists for LMU.
"It seemed like there was a five or six point barrier we couldn't break," said LUM head coach Julie Wilhoit. "Not to make excuses, but we've got two freshmen and a transfer out there and it seems like some of the little mistakes come from inexperience.
"I thought No. 21, BJ, she was just superior in handling the floor. She showed her experience and she showed her knowledge of the game. That's what kept us from breaking that barrier.
"To be honest, I don't think it was anything we didn't do, but more what they did."
One thing Hawaii did was to slow the pace a bit in the second half. Goo said he wanted his team to play an up-tempo game, but that wasn't working consistently in the opening half.
"We were running half under control. We had too many missed layups. It was obvious we were out of control," Goo said. "It was probably poor coaching in terms of getting our team ready. Some of it may be youth."
Itoman's six assists put her atop the UH career list with 410.
No. 10 Texas Tech 71, James Madison 38: The Dukes (5-5) took their only lead, 14-13, with 9:24 left in the first half, then were outscored, 58-24, the rest of the way.
Texas Tech (8-1) ended the first half with an 11-3 run, then opened the second half with a 19-7 spurt.
Both teams were coming off final exam break and the Red Raiders (8-1) were playing for the first time without two injured starters (Julie Luke and Aleah Johnson)..
"You automatically go through a transition when you lose two of your top six players. Everybody has to serve a little different role," Tech coach Marsha Sharp said. "I think some of the players were really trying to step it up and do things they weren't accustomed to doing.
"We hadn't played together in a while and it took us time getting back into the rhythm," said Angie Braziel, Tech's 6-3 senior center, who led all scorers with 20 points.
Mistiza Colebank scored 11 points for James Madison.
Hawaii 78, Loyola Marymount 66 Box Score
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Hunter 32 5 7 1 2 16 5 11 Britton 34 4 16 2 4 4 1 10 Jarosz 23 2 4 1 3 5 2 5 Bernasconi 32 3 10 4 6 5 5 11 Gamez 13 1 4 1 2 1 0 3 Reynolds 28 10 18 0 4 9 4 22 Murphy 13 1 3 0 0 4 2 2 Groholski 32 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Palmer 23 0 3 2 2 7 3 2 Gravely 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Team 3 Totals 200 26 66 11 23 54 23 66
mp fgm fga ftm fta reb pf tp Lee 28 2 8 1 2 4 1 5 Howard 38 11 17 6 12 8 3 29 Liu 16 4 8 0 0 2 4 8 Itoman 37 4 7 11 12 2 2 20 Evers 29 2 6 4 4 4 1 9 Forsberg 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Ruscoe 14 0 3 0 0 3 1 0 Kohler 13 0 3 0 2 2 4 0 Petersen 10 1 5 0 0 0 1 2 Greeny 12 2 2 0 0 4 0 5 Team 3 Totals 200 26 60 22 32 32 17 78Key: mp-minutes played. fgm-field goals made. fga-field goals attempted. ftm-free throws made. fta-free throws attempted. reb-rebounds. pf-personal fouls. pts-points scored.Halftime--Hawaii 35, Loyola Marymount 27.
3-point goals--LMU 3-14 (Reynolds 2-6, Bernasconi 1-4, Britton 0-3, Gamez 0-1), UH 4-11 (Howard 1-1, Greeny 1-1, Itoman 1-3, Evers 1-3, Lee 0-1, McMeeken-Ruscoe 0-2).
Assists--LMU 12 (Bernasconi 4), UH 18 (Lee 6, Itoman 6). Turnovers--LMU 18 (Bernasconi 5), UH 9 (Liu 2, Itoman 2). Steals--LMU 5 (Bernasconi 2, Reynolds 2), UH 9 (Howard 4). Blocked shots--LMU 2 (Jarosz 1, Murphy 1), UH 2 (Kohler 1, Greeny 1).
A--1,245 (1,973 tickets issued). Officials: Balque, Lewis, Tanibe.
James Madison: Jordan 2-9 1-2 5, Cook 1-3 0-0 2, Demann 3-6 0-2 6, Colebank 5-17 0-0 11, Wollenberg 1-7 0-0 3, Archer 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-2 0-0 0, Wiloiams 2-8 0-0 5, Keener 0-1 0-0 0, Hardbarger 0-1 0-0 0, Todd 1-6 4-4 6, Herring 0-1 0-0 0, Franklin 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 15-63 5-8 38.
Texas Tech: Schmucker 1-5 0-0 2, Dickerson 2-4 3-7 7, Braziel 9-14 2-2 20, O'Neal 5-9 1-2 14, Hanebutt 3-8 0-0 8, Washington 5-10 1-2 12, Gibbs 3-3 0-0 6, Tarr 1-1 0-0 2, Ellison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-54 7-13 71.
Halftime--Texas Tech 25, James Madison 17. 3-point goals--James Madison 3-25 (Williams 1-5, Wollenberg 1-6, Colebank 1-8, White 0-1, Keener 0-1, Hardbarger 0-1, Todd 0-1, Jordan 0-2), Texas Tech 6-11 (O'Neal 3-3, Hanebutt 2-4, Washington 1-1, Schucker 0-3). Rebounds--James Madison 39 (Jordan 7), Texas Tech 36 (Dickerson 14). Assists--James Madison 8 (Colebank 5), Texas Tech 22 (Schmucker 8). Total fouls--James Madison 13, Texas Tech 10.
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