In the first ever meeting between Texas State and Idaho, the Vandal women’s basketball team emerged as victors winning their second game in a row on the road Thursday night.
The Vandals came into the game off a solid win against UT-Arlington and followed it up against the Bobcats. Idaho has now won three straight conference road games. The Vandals will have the opportunity to improve on that streak with three more games on the road before they return home, starting with Texas-San Antonio on Saturday.
With Thursday’s win the Vandals stay near the top of the conference standings. The WAC remains close with five teams within a game of each other entering Thursday’s games.
Five Idaho players were in double figures, led by junior Alyssa Charlston’s 14 points. Charlston also had 17 rebounds for a double-double. Freshman Christiana Salvatore was right behind Charlston with 13 points.
Idaho coach Jon Newlee said the game was an all-around team win.
“I thought everyone who got in contributed,” Newlee said. “I thought Krissy Karr did a great job of coming in and jump-starting our offense. Once we got going, we really got on a good roll.”
The Vandals found themselves down early in the first half after the Bobcats started the game on an 8-2 run. It took Idaho awhile to get going, but the Vandals took full control of the game in the last eight minutes of the period, going on a 17-0 run and holding Texas State to one point in the last seven minutes of play. Idaho took a solid 38-24 lead into the half. Freshman Ali Forde led Idaho in the first half with eight points and five boards.
The Vandals came out strong in the second, starting it with a pair of 3-pointers to increase the lead. The Vandals got the lead up to 19 at one point, but Texas State chipped away at it. Texas State cut the lead to 10, but it was too little too late as Idaho held on and claimed the 72-60 win. Newlee said he didn’t like the way his team let up toward the end of the game, but was happy overall.
“I thought our shot selection was much better tonight once we got the lead,” Newlee said. “I told them, you can’t lose intensity with a 20-point lead down on the other end. That’s how we got it.”
Texas State’s Diamond Ford entered the game as the WAC’s leading scorer and proved why by leading all scorers with 25 points. Newlee said his team defended her well, but scorers like Ford will get their points.
“Diamond Ford is a great scorer and she’s proven that in her career here and this year in the WAC,” Newlee said. “Honestly I thought we covered her shots pretty well.”
The Vandals will not be home until Feb. 7 when they take on New Mexico State.
Kevin Bingaman can be reached at[email protected]