Ever since the Vandals gave up 92 points in a loss to Sacramento State Feb. 14, they have tightened up their defense and now find themselves tied for eighth place in the Big Sky.
This all started with a performance against Northern Arizona Thursday in which they forced 20 turnovers and won by 35 points. The momentum they gained bled into Saturday’s matchup with Southern Utah, which they won 76-49.
“We really got after NAU on Thursday and I thought we really continued that effort, particularly into that second half tonight,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “We thought they might be getting a little tired … So I thought we could ramp this stuff up and I thought defensively we did a great job.”
Along with the win, Stacey Barr moved into fourth place on Idaho’s all-time scoring list. She came into the game two points shy.
Barr, who said she doesn’t like to talk about her personal accomplishments, said she is honored to be in such hallowed territory, among the best players to ever grace the program. Barr started off slow in the first half but picked it up with 12 of her 18 points in the second period.
“Fourth all-time, she is a scorer, she finds ways,” Newlee said. “Even when her shots not on, (she) gets to the rim or at least the free-throw line.”
The Vandals will try to extend their winning streak to three games Thursday when they travel to Missoula to take on Montana.
The Vandals went into Saturday knowing they also needed to keep SUU’s 6-4 center Brenna Gates in check. Although she had nine points in the first half, the UI posts did a great job keeping her in check in the second half.
“We tried to push her outside a little bit and meet her in transition a little bit and make her actually work her way down,” Newlee said. “We got that one offensive foul on her and she got a little frustrated.”
Junior post Renae Mokrzycki was among the players that helped assist in shutting down the SSU bigs. She has recently provided a spark off the Idaho bench after finding her way into the rotation.
“Her energy level has been great,” Newlee said. “She comes in, she got real physical with the big kid – got on the glass, made her free throws, was getting to the rim, really jumpstarted us when I thought our energy at that point was going down and that’s why I stuck her in there.”
The energy she provides to the lineup when she gets her minutes is something that Newlee preaches, she said.
“Coach tells us to come off the bench with a lot of energy and that’s what we try and do,” Mokrzycki said. “We try to keep our starts going with a lot of energy as well, but I just want to get on that court and just do everything I could.”
After shutting down the Thunderbirds in the post, they then began chucking up jump shot after jump shot. Many of those looks were contested and the Idaho defense held them to a mere 23.4 percent shooting from the field on the day.
After the Vandals started to extend the lead in the second half, SUU slowly started to slow down and that was when the athleticism of the team really began to shine.
“Once we get the ball out, the bigs weren’t as quick as our bigs and as soon as we get the ball and kick it out to Karlee (Wilson) or Connie (Ballestero), that can push the ball up the floor kind of opens things up,” Barr said. “And once again I think our defense was a great team defense like we did on Thursday night.”
Joshua Gamez can be reached at [email protected]