It seems almost every day an Idaho women’s basketball player breaks a school record.
Senior post Ali Forde moved up to second in school history for blocks in the Vandals’ 61-57 win against Wyoming Saturday at the Cowan Spectrum. She finished the game with five blocks.
“Ali was a monster tonight,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “She took it hard to the rim. For her to play like that at about 80 percent was great.”
Forde did not play in Wednesday’s game against Northwest Christian because of a hip injury.
“It’s getting up and down the floor where she strides out, that pulls at that hip thing,” Newlee said. “But around in the half court, she’s still fairly explosive.”
Forde earned her 15th career double-double, finishing with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Sophomore post Geraldine McCorkell earned her third double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
McCorkell opened the game with a layup and Idaho senior guard Christina Salvatore added three points to bring the Vandals to an early 5-2 lead.
Wyoming took the lead after a foul by McCorkell sent Cowgirls sophomore forward Marleah Campbell to the free-throw line. She made both and Wyoming took a 16-15 lead.
A free throw from Salvatore, another layup from senior post Renae Mokrzycki and a 3-pointer from McCorkell brought Idaho ahead again.
Idaho senior post Tayla Corrigan ended the first half with a 3-pointer in the last two seconds of play.
“It was great,” Newlee said. “When I saw her out there and I saw where (Wyoming’s Bailee) Cotton was, I said, ‘Tayla you shoot it,’ and she said, ‘Let’s go.’ I don’t think they were quite aware that she could shoot from out there.”
The Vandals led 35-24 at halftime.
Forde led with 14 points and six rebounds at half.
Wyoming’s Marquelle Dent exceeded her 15.8 points per game average and finished with 22 for the Cowgirls.
Newlee said one of Idaho’s primary focuses was playing defense.
“We gotta keep defending,” Newlee said. “Number 10 (Dent), she’s a special player. We didn’t let her get to the rim as much as other teams have.”
The Vandals held Dent to 7 of 22 from the floor and 2 of 11 from 3-point range.
Three points from Idaho senior guard Connie Ballestero brought the score to 41-31 in favor of Idaho.
Mokrzycki made two layups to extend the Vandals’ lead, 48-39.
Idaho led 48-41 at the end of the third quarter.
Free throws from Ballestero and McCorkell sealed the win for the Vandals.
McCorkell said the differences between this season and last season are “night and day.”
“I think we’re playing a lot better together,” McCorkell said. “Our chemistry is really good.”
McCorkell said Idaho’s offense is deep.
“There are so many scorers on our team that we kind of feed off of each other,” McCorkell said. “If one of us isn’t open, someone else is. I’m just lucky to be on the receiving end of all the good passes and good work we all do together.”
Forde said she is confident in McCorkell’s abilities going forward.
“She’s really stepped up,” Forde said. “When she shoots, I’m confident it’s going in.”
Idaho (7-1) will play Texas Tech at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in Lubbock, Texas.
Tess Fox can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @tesstakesphotos
(Photo courtesy of Tess Fox)