San Jose state won the opening tipoff of the game, but that was the only battle the Spartans would win all night when the Vandal women’s basketball team cruised to a 82-65 victory Thursday night in the Cowan spectrum.
It was a well-rounded victory for Idaho (4-9, 1-1 WAC). The Vandals had five players with 10 points or more, led by junior Addie Schivo with 18 points. The Vandals also had three players with 10 rebounds or more, including sophomore Stacey Barr and junior Alyssa Charlston who both had a double-double.
Idaho coach Jon Newlee said he was more than happy with the effort his team put forth.
“That’s always our game plan,” Newlee. “It’s an equal opportunity offense, it always has been. I liked the way we made the extra pass tonight, took some really good shots and shot the ball well. I loved the offensive rebounding effort, that was huge.”
The Spartans hung with Idaho for the opening minutes of the first half, but that changed quickly. The Vandals went on a 16-0 run halfway through the period to take a commanding lead. Idaho kept the momentum going and went into the half with a comfortable 44-25 lead. The Vandals hit 6 of 12 shots from the arch in the first half.
Barr said the quick start for Idaho was what the Vandals were aiming to do coming in.
“We said in the changing room that we had to really come out firing from the start and we did,” Barr said. “It’s great. It shows that we really played a team game and didn’t turn the ball over like last game. That truly makes a difference.”
Idaho started the second half like the Vandals ended the first when Barr hit a three-pointer to extend the lead. The Vandals dominated most of the second half, but San Jose State didn’t give up and slowly reduced the deficit, but never got close enough to threated Idaho’s lead as Idaho took the 82-65 win.
Newlee said he was resting some of his players at the end of the game, but wasn’t happy with the way his team finished.
“I thought our lead was safe and never felt like it wasn’t,” Newlee said. “…We have 12 players on our roster and when they come in they have to make the most of it. I’m not afraid to put anyone is a basketball game, but they have to make the most of it.”
The Vandals took advantage of the shorter Spartan team all night, scoring 28 points in the paint and outrebounding the Spartans 60-39 overall
“Rebounding has always been a big thing for us and for us to come out and outrebound them like we did is great thing for us. We’ve really worked hard on it in practice,” Barr said.
Next up for Idaho will be the WAC preseason favorites Utah State at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Cowan Spectrum.