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Wahine Win Overtime Thriller
3/10/2001 12:00:00 AM | Tulsa Hurricane
March 10, 2001
Dainora Puida notched a career-high 25 points and 16 rebounds to lead Hawaii to a heart-stopping 97-88 overtime win over SMU in the semifinals of the Williams WAC Tournament Friday at the Donald Reynolds Center. The Wahine (23-6) advanced to the championship game Saturday where they will face top-seed TCU, a 76-58 winner over Rice. Tipoff is set for 12:30 p.m. CST.
Hawaii overcame a nine-point first-half deficit and a near-disastrous finish in regulation to advance to the their first WAC tournament championship.
Crystal Lee finished with 21 points and nine rebounds for UH after scoring just two in the first half. Kylie Galloway added 19 points, including three 3-pointers.
An out-of-sync UH squad shot just 33 percent in the first half and trailed 34-28 at the break. The Wahine rallied in the second half with 56 percent shooting and Puida's putback with 1:30 remaining gave UH their first lead, 73-72, since early in the first half.
SMU (16-12) nearly crushed UH's hopes when D-dra Rucker stole a Wahine pass and scored a break-away layup with eight seconds left to put the Mustangs up 77-75. But Janka Gabrielova answered right back by racing the length of the court and nailing a runner in the lane with just two seconds remaining. Gabrielova finished with 12 points and seven assists while playing all 45 minutes.
Once in overtime, Puida continued her second-half dominance by scoring six points and grabbing six rebounds. SMU, meanwhile, made just 3-of-12 shots in the final five-minute period.
Kaci Alexander led SMU with 17 points, all in the second half. Rucker finished with 16 points, after sitting out most of the first half in foul trouble.
