Hawai`i enters post-season action at the 2005 WAC Tournament in Reno, Nev. The seventh-seeded Rainbow Wahine will play 10-seed and tournament host Nevada in a first-round matchup on Tuesday, March 8. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. PST.
UH comes in limping to the tournament, both figuratively and literally. The Rainbow Wahine have lost five of its last seven games and may likely be without senior forward Jade Abele, who injured her left knee in UH's regular-season finale at Fresno State. This year marks the second straight that UH will be in a "play-in" game. Last year the Rainbow Wahine lost to Boise State on a last second 3-pointer in the tournament opener in Fresno, Calif.
Hawaii has won both regular season meetings with Nevada this year, including an eight-point win in Reno last Thursday. The two teams have a history in the post-season, most recently in the 2002 WAC Tournament three years ago in Tulsa, Okla., in what was the lowest scoring game in WAC Tournament history, a 45-41 UH win. Reno has also served as the site of one of UH's biggest victories. The Rainbow Wahine defeated Pacific, 68-64 in the championship game of the 1996 Big West Tournament to pick up their first and only conference tournament title.
Television: None
Radio: KKEA Radio will carry the game live with Bobby Curran on the call.
UH in the WAC Tournament: Hawaii is 8-8 (.500) in eight appearances in the WAC Tournament and have made it to the championship game twice, losing to Tulsa (2001) and Louisiana Tech (`02).
Scouting Nevada: Nevada is 7-21 overall and finished in last place in the WAC for the third straight season with a 3-15 mark...the Wolf Pack have lost their last five straight to end the regular season...Nevada ended the regular season with a 65-49 home loss to San Jose State and shot just 30 percent from the floor, two days after shooting 32 percent against UH...freshman forward Meghan McGuire leads the team at 13.4 ppg.
Series History: UH leads the series 20-4 and are 8-3 in Reno. The Rainbow Wahine won the two regular season meetings between the teams--a decisive 71-43 win in Honolulu on January 1 and a 62-54 win in Reno on March 5.
Scouting The Rest of the Field: La Tech garnered the No. 1 seed and won a share of the regular-season title, but lost four conference games this season, its most since joining the conference in 2001-02...Rice won a share of its first-ever regular-season title and comes in as the hottest team having won its final nine games...third seed Tulsa also finished strong with wins in five of its last six contests, including an upset of La Tech in the finale...SMU finished in a tie for fourth place and boast the WAC Newcomer of the Year in Janielle Dodds...San Jose State is one of the most athletic teams in the field and have two all-WAC players in Lamisha Augustine (1st Team) and freshman Amber Jackson...Fresno State has gone 6-2 since being under the helm of interim coach Adrain Wiggins in early February...UTEP finished in a tie for seventh with UH at 7-11, but lost the tiebreaker due to UH's win over La Tech...Boise State finished in ninth place in the WAC but earlier this year snapped La Tech's 23-game WAC winning streak.
-uh-
