Tuesday, January 19, 1999 The Daily Utah Chronicle- - 15 Fuertes Not So Nice To Visiting Friends Ute 79 guard scores in stomping of Rainbow Wahine Sterling Clifford Chronicle Sports Writer They say you can't go home again. But you can always beat up on people from your home when they come for a visit. Hawaii native Tiana Fuertes scored 19 points and led the Utes to a victory over the University of Hawaii on Sunday. "I've been looking forward to this since my freshman year," said Fuertes, who had the chance to compete against former high school teammate BJ Itoman for the first time. Itoman had just six points against 5 from behind the Utah and went arc. 0-- Tiana Fuertes became Tiana en Fuego. The Utah guard set up shop downtown, draining five of her land. seven attempts from She was perfect from the free throw line and had five assists and a steal to go with her 19 points. "I knew she was up," Lori Red said of Fuertes. "When T's up, the whole team is up." The whole team was up through the game. The Utes opened the 3 run and held game with a Hawaii to just 30 percent shooting for the first half. Utah avoided the second half slump that had been so 13-- U common this season, and worked over Hawaii for the entire game. "Coach talked a lot about our intensity this week," Fuertes explained. "And we've been working really hard in practice." For the first time this season, the Utes were dominant in every aspect of the game. They finished with 31 more rebounds than Hawaii to match their 31 point win, and controlled Hawaii on the defensive end of the floor. Hawaii forward Raylene Howard is second in the WAC in scoring, averaging over 21 points per game, but she was held to just 10 on Sunday. Six of those came on free throws; she hit only two field goals. "Our kids did a nice job of staying between her and the basket," said Utah coach Elaine Elliott. "It was the best effort from our big kids so far, excellent position defense." Up by 12 at the half, the Utes began to really pound Hawaii. Utah would connect on 18 of 30 shots in the second half, while Hawaii made only 10 buckets. And, in traditional Utah fashion, the Utes drove the stake through Hawaii with the trey. Utah was five of eight from outside in the second, and hit nine for the game. Hawaii got only three and shot only 32 percent total from the 2 j 5'K 4 field. Freshman Lindsay Herbert got her first start for Utah in place of Erin Gibbons, who missed her second start because of a groin pull. Amy Ewert, who started on see women, page 16 Kristi Rose (44) provided some intimidation on this play. Utah whipped Hawaii on Sunday. Places Second in Alpine at Utah Invitational Eric Walden Chronicle Sports Writer PARK CITY Just call the Utah ski team The Wizards of Oz' because, apparently to them, "there's no place like home." After a lackluster performance and a third-plac- e finish at the Montana State Invitational, the Utes needed something to get them back on track. With the ski season consisting of only five meets before the NCAA Championships in March, teams have precious little time to get into a groove. As it turns out, all Utah needed was a little bit of Park City snow. The Utes hosted eight other schools at the University of Utah Invitational on Jan. 7 an regained the form that has helped the program win 10 national championships. The Utah skiers arc now running smoothly, even though they sputtered a little at first. After the opening day of the invitational, the Utes' hopes were nearly as cold as the snow they were skiing on. The women finished the giant slalom competition with a respectable 49.5 points, putting them in third place. The men, however, gained only 37 points in the slalom, placing them fourth in that competition. After the first day, the team had accumulated just 86.5 points putting them in fourth place overall, behind Denver and New Mexico (108 points each) and Colorado (106 points). Liz Sherry, a freshman from New Hampshire, was Utah's top finisher of the day, placing third in the giant slalom with a total time of 1:54.27. Sabri-n- a Lawrence, a sophomore from California, took nth in 1:56.37 while Tina Kavcic, a senior from Slovenia, had a time of 1:56.57 that placed her 13th overall. Sandra Kuchni, a junior from Switzerland, rounded out the women's scoring with a 17th place finish in a total time of 1:59.26. The men, however, struggled mightJy in the slalom competition. Markus Lcunig, a junior from Switzerland, was their top finisher taking 15th in a time of 1:27.55. Ryan Forsyth, a junior from British Columbia, Canada was 20th in 1:28.47 while Alain Britt-Cota senior from Quebec, Canada, was 21st year-openi- 16-1- c, Alain Britt-Col- e has helped the Utes to second place at the University of Utah Invitational. sec skiing, page 19