Despite losing two hall of fame players last season, Idaho Women’s Basketball has not stepped off the gas pedal in the Big Sky Conference (BSC).
The Vandals (12-5, 7-1 BSC) are one of the top teams in the conference thus far, sitting just one win behind Montana State (12-6, 8-1 BSC).
After suffering a disappointing loss on the road against Portland State (12-8, 6-4 BSC) on Jan. 2, 74-53, Idaho has rattled off five-straight wins; its best streak this season.
“Our defense is really fueling our energy and just keeping that up will hopefully just keep the season going,” junior guard Janie King said. “We bring a lot of energy and effort every game. That’s what we kind of try to do as a team every night.”
In recent years, the Vandals have been an offensive juggernaut, but have put a great emphasis on the defensive end.
Associate Head Coach Krista Sanford has been praised by Head Coach Jon Newlee for the defensive strides the team has made.
King was recruited as a three-point specialist. She grabbed some tips from Mikayla Ferenz and Taylor Pierce, two of the best shooters to ever play at the college level, to elevate her game to the next level.
Leslie Ann Kiebert | Argonaut
King has now moved in the direction of expanding her defensive game, the team “working on defense every day” has allowed King to grow.
“(King is) feeling very confident shooting the basketball when she came back from her concussion,” Newlee said. “(King has) really played at a higher level defensively for us – that’s where her minutes started to, you know, to pile up a little bit and then, of course, shooting the basketball at a high level.”
Idaho has the top defense in the conference this season, keeping games close and allowing the winning streak to grow.
Despite taking a slight step back offensively, the Vandals still have plenty of ways to get points.
Going into Saturday’s game against Northern Arizona (9-9, 6-3 BSC), Idaho will have a tough test against one of the best offensive teams this season.
Junior post Khiarica Rasheed is the team’s leading scorer, but redshirt sophomore transfer from the University of California Santa Barbara, Nina Radford, is seen as the x-factor who could end the winning streak.
“(Radford is) a hard guard, tall kid who can score inside now,” Newlee said. “This year (Northern Arizona is) scoring at a high level. But defensively, we’ll do what we’ve been doing—get back and keep our energy high.”
The Vandals play Northern Arizona at 2:00 p.m. Saturday in Cowan Spectrum.
Zack Kellogg can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kellogg_zack. edu