Rainbow Wahine to bid aloha to seniors
Advertiser Staff
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Tara Hittle will celebrate her second Senior Night in three months when the Rainbow Wahine basketball team plays its final home games this weekend at Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawai'i (6-20 overall, 3-10 Western Athletic Conference) plays Idaho (11-13, 8-5) tomorrow at 7 p.m. and Boise State (15-12, 8-5) Sunday at 5 p.m. Following that game, UH seniors Catherine Cho, Ebony Jones and Hittle — who celebrated Senior Night with her volleyball teammates in November — will be honored.
The Vandals and Broncos are tied for third in the WAC. In the coaches preseason poll, Idaho was picked to finish last and Boise first.
The Rainbow Wahine are two games ahead of WAC cellar-dweller San Jose State. They close their regular season on Feb. 7 at Nevada and stay in Reno for the WAC Tournament, which begins Feb. 10.
Idaho, which beat UH for the first time in history earlier this season, has a familiar look. Its first-year coach is Jon Newlee, Vince Goo's assistant in Manoa from 1999 to 2002. Newlee spent the last six years at Idaho State and this year has guided the Vandals to eight conference wins — three less than in the last three seasons combined. He has no seniors on the roster.
Newlee's assistants are Hawai'i's Gavin Petersen, who followed Newlee from UH to Idaho State and Idaho, and former Rainbow Wahine Christa (Brossman) Sanford. Brossman played for UH in 2001 and 2002, then finished her career with Newlee before becoming his assistant coach.
The Vandals also feature freshman Shaena-Lyn Kuehu, who helped Punahou win three of the last four state high school championships. Kuehu leads the WAC in 3-point shooting, with a .407 percentage, which ranks fourth in Idaho history. In conference games, she is first among WAC freshmen in scoring (12.2), field-goal percentage (.496), 3-point field-goal percentage (.446), 3-point field goals per game (1.92) and rebounding (5.2).
Hawai'i sophomore Keisha Kanekoa leads the WAC in free-throw percentage (84.8) and is fourth in assists (3.27) and field-goal percentage (.431) — best among WAC guards.
