Women’s basketball has strong showing in exhibition game Tuesday
Playing in its first game since its opening round loss to Louisville in the 2014 NCAA Tournament in March, the Idaho women’s basketball team showed no signs of offseason rust. The Vandals dismantled NCAA Division II opponent Central Washington 73-37 Tuesday in Memorial Gym in their opening exhibition game.
Jose Bendeck | Argonaut
Ali Forde scores against Central Washington at Tuesday’s game.“I was happy with our effort,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “I thought our execution was particularly good in the first half — the first 12 minutes probably. I thought we came out firing offensively and then defensively I thought we did a good job of implementing the game plan.”
The Vandals went up early with an 18-4 lead five minutes into the game and never looked back. All 13 players on Idaho’s roster recorded playing time in the game and Newlee said he doesn’t plan on redshirting anyone this season.
“Solo (Nejra) redshirted last year so she’s out of that, so I think everybody’s here and everyone’s ready to play,” he said. “They’re just going to be battling for minutes.”
Veteran players led the Vandals on the stat sheet. Senior guard Stacey Barr, the Preseason Big Sky Player of the Year, lived up to the preseason hype leading the Vandals with 16 points in just 24 minutes of play. Junior post Ali Forde added 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals for Idaho while junior guard Connie Ballestero led with eight assists.
Idaho also saw flashes from newcomers with post Geraldine McCorkell, a freshman from Melbourne, Australia, and guard Bethany Krause, a freshman from Centerville, Ohio. McCorkell had 11 points in 13 minutes and Krause had seven points and two steals in 13 minutes.
Jose Bendeck | Argonaut
Freshman guard Bethany Krause gets fouled by the Central Washington defense during Idaho’s 73-37 win over the Wildcats Tuesday in Memorial Gym. The Vandals start the regular season Nov. 14 at Cal State-Northridge.
“The freshmen came and played, which was awesome,” Barr said. “Bethany hit a big shot, Geri hit a big shot, so it was good to see them out there. The two junior transfers did the same. They came out and ran out plays. It might not have gone their way but they were still out there performing.”
Idaho also saw the return of sophomores Karlee Wilson and Brooke Reilly from injury. Wilson suffered a knee injury midway through the 2013-14 season while Reilly battled a back injury. The two combined for 11 points.
“Having Karlee back is a huge plus for us and Brooke coming off her injury — I thought she played extremely well,” Newlee said. “They’re doing great. We’re waiting for Karlee to get a different brace. Brooke is 100 percent. It was great to see her flying around and playing like she did.”
Though the Vandal delivered a dominating performance, Newlee said he was concerned about rebounding. The Vandals outrebounded the Wildcats 41 to 36 but they only grabbed one more defensive rebound.
“That’s probably one area I wasn’t really happy with was the rebounding,” Newlee said. “We’re going to have to do a better job once we get into the regular season starting on the 14th down there with (Cal State) Northridge because they’re an NCAA Tournament team and we can’t rebound like we did tonight and expect to win.”
Jose Bendeck | Argonaut
Coach Jon Newlee addresses the Vandal women’s basketball team at Tuesday’s match with Centeral Washington
The game against Central Washington was Idaho’s only exhibition game of the season. The Vandals have a week and a half break before facing Cal State-Northridge next Friday for regular season play.
“I think it was good,” Barr said following the game. “It was a little rough our first scrimmage a week or so ago, but to come out and start the game the way we did, I think it was a confidence boost for our team.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]