Idaho gets much needed win at home
The Vandals (11-13 overall, 5-8 Big Sky) kept their postseason hopes alive by way of an impressive 78-43 victory over the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (11-13, 7-6).
Amelia C. Warden | Argonaut
Ali Forde is fouled after she drives the ball against Northern Arizona during the second half of the game on Thursday night at the Cowan Spectrum. Idaho won 78-43.
Idaho coach Jon Newlee said the team needs to keep winning if they want to have any hope of securing one of the eight spots in the Big Sky Tournament.
“We are home, the schedule is favorable to us if we can take care of business at home, and this was the first step,” Newlee said.
Despite the 5-8 conference record, the team isn’t lacking in confidence. They have hung with the best teams the conference has to offer, they just have had some bad stretches during games although tonight that wasn’t the case, Newlee said.
Idaho will try to win back-to-back games for the first time since December when they host Southern Utah (12-11, 5-8), another Big Sky Tournament hopeful, Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Cowan Spectrum.
Despite winning by 35 points, the Vandals struggled early. The Vandals and Lumberjacks traded poor shots and turnovers through the first 12 minutes of the first half, but then everything changed.
Over the final eight minutes of the first half, with Idaho nursing a 16-13 lead, they went on a 20-0 run thanks to nine points from Barr, who finished the night three points shy of fourth place on Idaho’s all-time scoring list. She finished the night with 28 points on 9-of-16 shooting, and this was with her spending most of the second half on the bench after Idaho opened up a 35-point lead on NAU.
Amelia C. Warden | Argonaut
Idaho fights for a jump ball during the game against Northern Arizona at the Cowan Spectrum on Thursday night.
When Barr gets going offensively, like she has over the last few games, it makes it easier to get to the rim, sophomore guard Karlee Wilson said.
“When they are practically face guarding Stacey it helps open up driving lanes for all of us,” Wilson said. “When we are setting screens and running our offense it definitely opens up lanes.”
Part of the big win could have been attributed to the 16 points Idaho got off fast breaks and the 20 turnovers the Vandal defense forced on the night.
“When we get up and get a few steals and get running it makes it a little bit easier,” Barr said.
NAU’s Raven Anderson started the game off with a spark for the Lumberjack posts with five points and three rebounds before Idaho did a great job of shutting them down and forcing them to take nine 3-pointers in the first half.
“I thought our posts did a great job of handling their shooters and shutting down their inside game, which I think is pretty dang good,” Newlee said.
Along with the offensive explosion at the end of the first half that bled into the second, Idaho also put together a great defensive effort. The Vandals held NAU to 22.4 percent from the field with no NAU player scored in double figures.
Amelia C. Warden | Argonaut
Stacey Barr (left), Karlee Wilson (middle left), Brooke Reilly (middle right), and Ali Forde (right, cheer from the sidelines during the second half of the game against Northern Arizona on Thursday night at the Cowan Spectrum.
“Defensively we really got after them,” Newlee said. “Karlee got out there and was harassing that point guard and kind of choking things up.”
Barr said Wilson’s tenacious defense on the Lumberjack guards helped force some key turnovers and easy baskets. These, along with the stops they kept getting on defense, helped facilitate the offense.
“We can play with anybody,” Wilson said. “It definitely boosts our confidence level going into Saturday’s game.”
Joshua Gamez can be reached at [email protected]