'Bows arrive in Reno // Jackson's monster night
After a narrow defeat to Utah State in snowy Logan, Utah, the Hawaii men’s basketball team left early this morning for Salt Lake City.
There was a minor problem on the bus ride — the snow chains on the team bus’ tires broke at one point, causing a half-hour delay — but the Rainbow Warriors (9-4, 0-1 WAC) still arrived in SLC on schedule 2 hours later. From there, it was a straight flight to Reno, Nev., for tomorrow’s game against the Nevada Wolf Pack (3-10), and UH arrived safely.
ESPN has been fond of televising the Hawaii at Nevada games over the years (though UH is still winless there in 13 tries). This year is no exception, so don’t forget — the game is on ESPNU at 3 p.m. Hawaii time (5 Pacific).
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It was an impressive effort last night by the Rainbows in early all aspects of the game, except a key one — rebounding. UH came in with a plus-6.2 average margin, but was soundly outplayed 32-13 on the glass. USU’s 18 offensive rebounds was too much to overcome, and you can bet UH coach Gib Arnold will make that an emphasis of today’s practice.
The good news, no snowstorm in Reno.
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If you haven’t heard by now, Rainbow Wahine freshman forward Kamilah Jackson went for 31 points and 25 rebounds last night in UH’s 84-74 win over Cal State Bakersfield, one of the best individual performances in program history.
She had 29 points and 20 rebounds with 10 minutes to play, but Jackson got some rest near the end of the game and the team started going to Keisha Kanekoa more to close out the win.
She broke Judy Mosley’s freshman scoring record of 30 points in 1987 and was one off Renee McKnight’s rebounding record of 26 from back in 1978.
It was also the first Wahine 30-point game since 2001, when Crystal Lee had 32 points at TCU.
Just an outstanding night all around. Jackson’s rebounds were almost all off misses of teammates and CSUB bricks — she wasn’t passing the ball to herself off the glass a bunch of times. She just outworked the opposition under the basket over and over, shooting 11-for-18 from the field and 9-for-12 from the line.
She put up some ridiculous numbers at Sacred Heart Cathedral High last year, but no one expected this kind of production from her. Amazing.
that was indeed a crazy performance last night.
wait, are you in two places at once? how’d you write both stories?
We had a writer in Logan write the UH men’s story for us. I was at home and covered the Wahine.
Do you think Jackson will be WAC player of the week.
I think she has to be. She probably could not even played at all in the UNLV game and still gotten it, along with tournament MVP honors. That’s what happens when you follow up a 19-15 game with a meaningful 31-25. The 8-8 against the Rebels was just a bonus.