After a strong stint at home, the Idaho women’s basketball team suffered a hard-fought loss to Idaho State Thursday night.
The Vandals have not won a game on the Bengals’ home court since 1996.
Ending the streak was not the only thing on the line during the game. A loss to a fellow conference opponent knocked the Vandals into sixth place in the Big Sky, while Idaho State held on to its fourth place tie with Eastern Washington.
“(Idaho State) shot the heck out of the basketball. You have to give them credit. They are a team that usually does not shoot as well as they did,” Idaho head coach Jon Newlee said in a news release. “They shoot better here at home and they came ready to play. They just made shots. I loved our start. The two fouls on Mikayla were killer. I could not play her that second quarter, taking all our momentum away.”
Idaho jumped ahead to an 11-3 lead after a pair of 3-pointers from sophomore post Brigette O’Neill. The Bengals pulled within four points at end the first quarter.
Idaho State tied the game in the second quarter after a free throw by guard Freya Newton. Idaho fought back with efficient shooting by senior guard Agueda Trujillo in the paint. The Bengals eventually knocked down the Vandals’ lead off a 3-pointer by guard Isabel Vara de Ray.
“We let them get way to comfortable at the 3-point line tonight without a doubt,” Newlee said. “We had a few misses at crucial times where we could have got back in the game. They made theirs and we did not make ours. It was a huge swing for them.”
Trujillo tied the game back up, but a last second shot by guard Estafania Ors put Idaho State up by three at halftime.
The start of the third quarter boded well for the Vandals after redshirt junior post Brooke Reilly knocked down a long 3-pointer in the opening seconds to tie the game at 37.
However, the Idaho State offense got onto a roll, outscoring the Vandals 23-13 to finish the quarter.
Once the fourth quarter rolled around, the Idaho defense failed to keep the Bengals contained. Down 60-50, Idaho continued to let players like Newton hit open shots from downtown and Ors to make a difference in the paint. By the time the final buzzer rang, Idaho was staring down the barrel of a 80-69 defeat.
Idaho State’s 80 points were the third highest scored by an opponent for the Vandals this season.
“When you give up 80 points to a team that averages 58 to 60 points again, something is not going right,” Newlee said. I was really disappointed in our execution of the defensive game plan. They got really out of sorts. I am not sure if it was the fouling or what it was. It certainly did not go our way,”
Idaho stays on the road to take on Weber State 1 p.m. Feb. 24 in Ogden, Utah.
Brandon Hill can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @brandonmtnhill