Pain did not stop Idaho senior post Ali Forde from competing and turning in a double-double in Idaho’s 61-57 win against Wyoming Saturday at the Cowan Spectrum. Forde and sophomore post Geraldine McCorkell earned a double-double.
It was Forde’s 15th career double-double as she led Idaho with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
“Ali was a monster Saturday without a doubt,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “She got after it. We thought we had an advantage inside which was part of our game plan. She took it hard to the rim and was finishing around the rim. It was just a monster game from Ali.”
Newlee said Forde was not 100 percent healthy Saturday. She sat out Wednesday’s game against Northwest Christian due to a hip injury.
“Ali to play like Saturday at about 80 percent was great,” Newlee said. “Getting up and down the floor is where she strides out and kind of pulled out her hip. But around the half court, she’s still fairly explosive.”
Forde said she felt motivated to perform well against Wyoming after she missed Wednesday’s game.
“It always sucks when you have to sit out for a game,” Forde said. “You want to be there for your team, so it sucks to sit out but it was good to come back strong.”
Forde blocked the ball for a season-high five times and finished the game with 193 career blocks, passing Mary Westerwelle (who played at Idaho from 1982-86) for second on Idaho’s all-time block list.
Forde said Idaho did well on the defensive end.
“Our defensive plan was definitely shutting down Wyoming’s shooters,” Forde said. “Wyoming has great shooters like (Marquelle) Dent, so we had to shut them down and had to matchup. (Christina) Salvatore, Geraldine (McCorkell), Renae (Mokrzycki) and all the people who were playing on the blocking side of the post did a great job of talking and recognizing Wyoming’s shooting.”
Idaho improved its record to 7-1, its best start since 2003-04.
For the first time since 1986, the Vandals have also received votes from both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. Idaho’s only loss took place against then 15th-ranked Duke Nov. 26 in Cancun, Mexico.
“The start of the season feels great,” Forde said. “To have played great teams and have pulled out wins. The loss against Duke, we played them very tight but it feels really nice to come out strong.”
Next, Idaho plays Texas Tech at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.
Luis Torres can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @TheLTFiles
(Photo courtesy of Tess Fox)