The Vandals headed to the big island Friday and Saturday for the Maui Wahine Classic. Idaho matched up against No. 24 Oregon State (4-1) and UNLV (6-1) and fell short in both games.
Idaho faced off against Oregon State Friday, losing 60-49. The Vandals fought through the first half, heading into half time with a two-point lead with a score of 31-29. The Vandals lead the way by as many as 13 points in the second quarter.
However, the second half was controlled by the Beavers. Oregon State earned an early lead minutes into the second half and held tight through the rest of the game. The Beavers limited Idaho to just 20 points.
Idaho shot just 32.3 percent from three-point range and 18-of-58 from the field.
Leading the way for the Vandals was sophomore guard Mikayla Ferenz with 10 points with four assists on the night.
Junior post Brooke Reilly made an impact in the first half with eight points in her 17 minutes of play.
Idaho head coach Jon Newlee said the Beavers wore the Vandals down in the paint.
“I liked what we were doing early,” Newlee said in a press release. “I thought we were making some hard cuts and really executing our offense. Defensively, we were giving up too many points inside. I was disappointed with our shot selection after we gave up the lead. It was still a four-point game with five minutes to go against the No. 24 team in the country. We were right there. I was really proud of our effort tonight.”
Idaho came up short against UNLV with a 73-61 — its fifth consecutive loss of the season.
Idaho played a strong first half finishing with a 35-33 lead. At several points in the half, the Vandals extended its lead to double digits, with as many as 13 points on the Rebels.
It was a weak second half that gave the Rebels the win. UNLV kept Idaho to 28 points in the second half.
Junior post Geraldine McCorkell led the way for the Vandals with 14 points and 4-of-12 shots from three, giving her two new career highs.
Reilly added 12 points including three 3-pointers and six rebounds.
“UNLV played harder than we did,” Newlee said. “They wanted it more than we did in that fourth quarter and that has to change going into the Big Sky. I thought we did a really good job of executing our offense in the second and third. We were getting all the looks we wanted. We ran our sets and ran our plays great. Defensively, we just could not shut them down.”
Idaho heads on its eighth road game of the season against Wyoming at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Laramie.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]