The Idaho Vandals women’s basketball team defeated the Idaho State Bengals in the 2020 Big Sky Women’s Basketball Championships Semifinals in Boise, Idaho. The Vandals and Bengals went back and forth in the first half with both teams coming out with defensive stops and pushing their offenses.
Toward the end of the third period, the Bengal’s freshman guard Diaba Konate hit a three-point shot at the buzzer, making it a one-point game, 44-43.
Idaho Head Coach Jon Newlee said after the game that before the start of the fourth quarter, he made it clear how the Vandals would advance to the championship game.
“If you want your season to continue, we are going to play defense every single possession,” Idaho Head Coach Newlee said. “It’s just a matter of heart and desire right now, and we’ll see how much we have.”
The Vandals went on a 22-8 scoring run in the fourth period to seal their spot in the Big Sky Championships Final.
Senior guard Lizzy Klinker went into the game coming off an injury against Portland State University, but that didn’t stop the senior from scoring 13 points. Senior post Isabelle Hadden helped Idaho get the win with five rebounds and she finished with 12 points scored as she shot six-for-nine from the field.
“My seniors came through, I couldn’t
be happier for them and the rest of our
team,” Newlee said. “We battled. I loved
our resiliency tonight and our fight.”
Idaho moves on to face the No. 1 seed, the Montana State Bobcats, Friday afternoon with an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship tournament on the line. The Vandals haven’t won the Big Sky Championships since 2016 when UI alumni Mikayla Ferenz was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
The Vandals started their run in the Big Sky Championships with a first round-bye. They played in the Quarterfinals against the No. 7 seed, the Portland State Vikings, Tuesday night. The Vandals defeated the Vikings in a close defensive match-up 56-54.
“Ultimately the defense won this game,” Idaho Head Coach Jon Newlee said. “I thought we defended fantastically today, took away things that they wanted to do. We’ve done a great job on them this whole year so we felt confident coming in that we could handle them defensively where we needed to score the ball.”
Freshman Beyonce Bea converted a lay-up with 15.1 seconds left in the game to seal the win. Sisters, Lizzy Klinker and junior post Natalie Klinker, combined for 34 points and 17 rebounds to help the Vandals push past the Vikings.
“Both of them combined have had a couple of monster games and we really needed them to do what they did today, I’m really proud of these guys,” Newlee said.
In the closing seconds, Lizzy Klinker came off a play hobbling on her ankle and appeared injured for a period of time. She didn’t play for the rest of the game but she didn’t face any injury concerns after the game.
“The ankle is good, I got away with a few rolls earlier in the season so this might just be one that I work through,” Lizzy said.
Idaho plays Montana State at 1 p.m. PST in Boise, Idaho.
Armin Mesinovic can be reached @arg-sports.uidaho.edu or on Twitter @arminmesinovic