A quick start turned into a dominating victory for the Idaho women’s basketball team Tuesday night in Memorial Gym. The Vandals beat Carroll College, an NAIA team, 67-39 to move to 5-3 on the season and 2-0 at home.
“It was great to be home back in Mem Gym. It feels like we’ve been on the road forever, the road trip was long,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “To come home and play with the energy we played with in the first half, I was really pleased with that effort.”
With a schedule that has included two top 25 opponents and six of the first seven games on the road, competing against an NAIA team and playing at home offered a nice change of pace for the Vandals.
Idaho scored the first points of the game on a Christina Salvatore jumper and didn’t look back from there. The Vandals went from leading 8-4 at the 16:25-minute mark to leading 20-6 at 12:57. From there, Idaho coasted to a 39-12 first half lead.
The 39 first half points matched a season high for Idaho while its 12 points allowed were the lowest for Idaho in a half since North Dakota managed 18 on Idaho on Dec. 29, 2011.
“I thought we executed our offense tonight, especially in the first half,” Newlee said. “We were moving the basketball, everybody was getting their looks, sharing the basketball … I was real happy with the first half.”
Junior guard Stacey Barr continues to shine for Idaho. She led the Vandals in scoring for the fifth time this season, managing 20 points despite sitting out for much of the second half. The next highest scorer on either side had 11.
“I was happy with my game. We spoke during the week about shot selection as a team and individually, so I think making that adjustment really helped me tonight,” Barr said.
Carroll College had a 7-0 run early in the second half to cut into Idaho’s lead but it never got within 20 points of the Vandals. By the end of the game, every Idaho player saw action on the court giving the starters some much-needed rest.
“I thought it was critical for us to be able to play everybody tonight and give those people that have logged big minutes on the road trip rest,” Newlee said. “Especially with two big games coming up this weekend back-to-back again. I wanted to get some rest for them and get some experience minutes for our freshmen and some of the players that hadn’t played as many minutes.”
The Vandals hit the road again Friday against a one-loss Montana team for the 33rd Lady Griz Classic. The second game of the classic will be either UC Irvine, a team the Vandals beat earlier this season, or Appalachian State on Saturday.