Idaho women’s basketball threw everything they had at Washington, but the Huskies proved to be too much as the Vandals fell 66-49 in Memorial Gym Wednesday night.
The game put another tick in the Vandals’ loss column leaving them 2-5 on the season. Even with the losses Idaho coach Jon Newlee said he likes the improvement his team has shown.
“They’re learning, they’re picking it up,” Newlee said. “Our goal is to win the WAC. As long as we learn from every game and we get better every game and every practice, that’s what I’m looking for, and that’s what’s happening.”
While the Vandals executed plays on offense, they couldn’t knock down shots. The Vandals shot 27.8 percent on the night and just seven of 31 from 3-point range. Newlee said he wanted to see his team shoot with more confidence.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well from three, but we knew we were going to get our looks,” Newlee said. “I’m disappointed we didn’t shoot with confidence. We got a little hesitant shooting the basketball, and that’s never been a trademark of my team.”
The Vandals were able to hang with the Huskies for much of the first half, but Washington gained ground slowly and took a 10-point lead into halftime. After halftime Idaho cut the lead to six, but in the end Washington survived the surge and put Idaho away.
Washington’s Regina Rogers took it to Idaho all night, putting up 27 points and 14 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Idaho post Jessica Graham said the PAC-12 foe was a difficult team to handle.
“It’s a lot different than a WAC team,” Graham said. “They’re definitely bigger, stronger, faster, but I think it’s good for us to play a team like that. It’s definitely tough playing people that big.”
Idaho was out-rebounded 50-37 in the game and was dominated down low 34-14. Graham said it all went back to the Vandals’ inability to knock down their shots.
“That game definitely should have been closer than it was,” Graham said. “We didn’t execute the way that we wanted to. It should have been a pretty good game.”
The Vandals take on another PAC-12 foe, Colorado, at 11 a.m. Sunday in Boulder.