Hawai`i travels to Tempe, Ariz., to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils of the Pac 10 in the opening round of the 2003 Women's National Invitation Tournament. Tipoff is set 7:30 p.m MST on Thursday at the Wells Fargo Arena.

It is the fourth-straight appearance in the post-season tournament for the Rainbow Wahine and its sixth overall in the WNIT. The winner of Thursday's night game between ASU and Hawaii will face the winner of a first-round match-up between Northern Iowa (18-10) and Baylor (20-10), being played in Waco, Texas, on Thursday. Dates and locations of second-round games will be determined after each game. The WNIT features a field of 32 teams in a single-elimination format. All games, including the semifinals and championship game, will be hosted by participating schools at on-campus sites.

Local Television Coverage: None.

Local Radio Coverage: Rainbow Sports Radio (KKEA 1420 AM) will carry the game live starting a 4:30 p.m. HST.

On The Road Again: After playing its first 11 games of the season at home in the Stan Sheriff Center, the Rainbow Wahine now have the road to call home. Thursday's game versus Arizona State will mark the eighth time in the last 10 games UH is playing away from home. During a one-month span, the Rainbow Wahine have traveled to California, Nevada, back to California, Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and now Arizona. UH is 3-4 away from home during that span.

Hawaii and the WNIT: This will be Hawaii's sixth appearance in the postseason WNIT and its fourth straight. UH is 5-7 all-time in the tournament, advancing to the finals in 1992 and the semifinals in 2001.

Date Opponent Result Score
3/17/83 Oral Roberts*, L, 60-69
3/18/83 Southern Illinois* ,L, 68-84
3/19/83 Temple* ,L, 65-76
3/26/92 Fla. International* ,W, 83-73
3/27/92 Arkansas State*, W, 83-73
3/28/92 Georgia Tech* ,L, 72-90
3/16/00 at Saint Mary's ,L, 60-75
3/15/01 Santa Clara ,W, 73-57
3/19/01 BYU ,W, 77-73 (OT)
3/21/01 Oklahoma State ,W, 52-51
3/24/01 at New Mexico ,L, 43-68
3/16/02 at Oregon State ,L, 50-62
* at Amarillo, Texas

Rainbow Notables: The Rainbow Wahine advanced to the semifinals of the WAC Tournament, the fourth straight year that they have advanced at least that far in the tournament ...sixth-ranked Louisiana Tech ousted Hawaii, putting up 85 points, the most by a UH opponent...it was the first time a team all year that a team cracked 80 points against UH...prior to that only two teams were able to hit 70 points (75 at Nevada, 71 at San Jose State)...UH has 156 blocks on the year, breaking the single-season school record of 149 set two years ago...UH has won three straight road games after starting the year 0-7 away from home...Hawaii has hit 24 3-pointers in the last four games, an average of 6.0 per game...prior to that stretch the Rainbow Wahine were averaging just 3.4 triples per game.

Scouting Arizona State:The Sun Devils finished the regular season 15-13 to assure their third straight winning season...this will be ASU's fourth straight postseason appearance...they made the WNIT in 2000 and earned NCAA berths in each of the last two seasons...ASU placed eight in the Pac 10 with a 7-11 mark...leading scorers Jill Noe (12.4 ppg) and Amy Denson (10.2 ppg) were named to the all-conference freshmen team..head coach Charli Turner Thorne is in his seventh season as the head coach at Arizona State, where she is 105-99. Her career mark is 145-39 in 10 seasons.

Series History: Arizona State won the first and only meeting between the teams, 67-61 on Nov. 25, 2000 in the semifinals of the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu. The teams have never met in Tempe.

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