The Idaho women’s basketball team has been on fire in their last two games at home and look to continue their hot streak during their journey on the road against North Dakota.
The last time these two teams met ended in an 80-75 Vandal victory. Idaho is looking to get the season sweep against the Fighting Hawks.
Going into Saturday the Vandals have the opportunity of getting back on top of the Big Sky while preparing for the last stretch before the conference tournament. To stay hot, Idaho is going to have to rely heavily on the splash duo of junior guards Mikayla Ferenz and Taylor Pierce.
The duo combined for 54 in their matchup against Northern Arizona and in order to win in a hostile environment in North Dakota. Head coach Jon Newlee said in a press release that Ferenz is helping get everyone involved as well as being a scoring threat.
“(Ferenz) is doing a good job. People are double teaming her and doing special things against her but she is able to adjust and find open teammates,” Newlee said. “We have a lot of people that can score on this team, we’ll move the ball around and get it to other people who can certainly score.”
The Vandals have struggled this season to control the basketball. In order to control this game, cutting down turnovers is a must. The x-factor of the game is going to be the last member of the big three — senior Geraldine McCorkell. Rebounding is going to be another big factor for Saturday, something that Idaho has slowly been getting better at toward the latter half of the season.
“(Rebounding) is evolving right now, and is something that needs to. In this league if you can’t rebound you’re not winning many games,” Newlee said. “I loved our focus on rebounding this week at home and we’ve done a great job getting it on the glass.”
On the defensive side of the ball, North Dakota forces over seven steals a game and opponents average around 16 turnovers a game against North Dakota, so controlling the ball and tempo throughout the game while taking care of the basketball is a must-have on the road against the Fighting Hawks.
With the Big Sky being such a close race this time year, the Vandals have an opportunity to turn around this season and have a chance to get back on top of this conference, a place they are more than familiar with.
Newlee said the team is ready for the challenge Saturday.
“North Dakota plays extremely well at home. They have a great home crowd, it should be a great environment out there, but we have to embrace that environment and play hard,” Newlee said.
The Idaho Vandals will travel to play the North Dakota Fighting Hawks at 12 p.m. Saturday in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Chris Deremer can be reached at [email protected]