Idaho Women’s basketball continue to roll, this time beating Southern Utah in Cedar City.
“Total team effort today,” head coach Jon Newlee said in a news release. “We showed that we are a balanced basketball team.”
Idaho went into Saturday’s game with a conference record of 7-2 and in the middle of a three-game win streak, looking to continue to climb the ranks of the Big Sky — this time on the road against the 2-8 Thunderbirds.
Although Southern Utah’s season has been a bit up and down, there had been runs where the team was able to keep games close and give themselves opportunities to come away with wins.
The Vandals started off strong, holding the lead at the end of the first quarter. The Thunderbirds did fight back, locking up on the defensive end and eventually taking a 25-24 lead with 5:42 remaining in the second quarter.
Freshman guard Gina Marxen shoots a three over a Sacramento State defender in Cowan Spectrum.
Southern Utah held Idaho to just two made threes in the first half, both by senior guard Taylor Pierce. Not an easy defensive feat for any team to accomplish, but the Vandals did what they do best — found another way to get points on the board.
Idaho retook its lead going into halftime, 37-32 with the Klinker sisters, junior guard Lizzy and sophomore post Natalie combining for 18 points and 14 rebounds. The Splash Sisters added 15 points as well.
“Teams try to do what they can to take away Mikayla and Taylor, and today I thought that everyone else that played stepped up and did their jobs,” Newlee said. “They all buckled down and made some shots that I am not use to seeing them make.”
Idaho began to pull away in the second half, getting back to its regular scoring ways. Pierce came out and knocked down two threes, which put her to 400 career three pointers, which is an accomplishment only three other players in Women’s Basketball have ever reached.
This is when the Vandals started to pull ahead for good, ending the third quarter with a 58-48 lead.
The fourth quarter was just the punctuation mark on the game, with the Vandals putting the final nail in the coffin and coming out with the win, 82-70.
Despite Idaho not having a successful night from the 3-point arc, Newlee said he was happy with his team’s ability to adapt to the off-shooting night.
“I loved our ball movement in the second half. I thought we were dribbling too much in the beginning, so we talked about that at halftime and made some adjustments. After scoring 82 points with only six threes, I think that we showed that we are more than our three ball,” Newlee said.
The Vandals now moves to 8-2 and are fighting for the top spot in the conference.
Idaho plays Montana at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Cowan Spectrum.
Zack Kellogg can be reached at [email protected].