The new-look Idaho women’s basketball team weathered an early storm and cruised to a 70-45 victory over Warner Pacific in an exhibition match Friday night.
It was the first time for six Idaho players to compete in a Vandal uniform. Warner Pacific kept it close for most of the first half due to sloppy play by Idaho. Idaho coach Jon Newlee said it was a good learning experience for everyone.
“That’s why you have exhibition games,” Newlee said. “What I like about them is you can put a lot of different people in, different combinations. Even the veterans that have been around, getting their feet wet a little bit.”
The Vandals started to click and never looked back, cruising to a 25-point victory. Senior guard Keri Arendse said she enjoyed being back on the court.
“It felt really good,” Arendse said. “We’ve been working really hard in the preseason, so it was nice to get out and actually play another opponent besides ourselves.”
Freshmen Stacey Barr and Krissy Karr had impressive Vandal debuts. Barr led all scorers with 19 points while Karr, who was in the starting lineup, had 16 points. Newlee said Karr’s performance was typical of how she and Barr have played since joining the team.
Before the season began Newlee predicted post play would be an issue without seniors who graduated last year. He said he was looking for someone to step up, and junior Jessica Graham proved she could do just that with 11 points, seven rebounds and four blocks. Newlee said he was impressed with her performance “on the glass” and her physically aggressive play.
Newlee said the team needs to work on rebounding. While the Vandals out-rebounded their opponent, it was closer than Newlee hoped.
“From a rebounding standpoint I think we can do a better job of blocking out and not giving up those boards,” Newlee said. “They were a small team and we gave up a lot of boards tonight.”
The Vandals get their season underway when they play Corban University at 2 p.m. Saturday in Memorial Gym. Arendse said they are going to hit practice hard this week.
“We’re pretty confident, but we know we have a lot of work to do,” Arendse said. “We’re going to be working hard in practice to prepare for next week’s game.”