Coming off a tough loss to in-state rival Idaho State, the Vandals looked to get back on track against Weber State. However, the Vandals could not rebound as they would fall in a tight battle, 61-56 to the Wildcats, to extend their losing streak to three games and a woeful 2-7 in the ICCU arena.
The game began with a three-pointer by Weber State, getting the game’s first points. The Vandals didn’t score their first points until three minutes into the game, with a layup by graduate guard Amalie Langer getting the Vandals on the board.
No more scoring would take place for either team for another three minutes. A quick break for the media timeout gave the players the rest they needed, and the game began to pick up. The teams would trade three-pointers a minute after Weber State took a 6-5 lead.
On the next possession, junior guard Ashlyn Wallace stole the ball from Weber. She then ran the length of the floor, spun past a defender, and laid the ball off the glass to give the Vandals the lead back.
The teams would end the quarter tied at 12, and both shooting much better to end the quarter. The second quarter began like the first, with no one scoring. Junior forward Kennedy Johnson finally put an end to that when she scored the first basket of the quarter.
Langer and Johnson scored the following five points, and the Vandals pushed their lead to 19-12, forcing a Weber State timeout.
The Wildcats responded with a 5-0 run to cut the lead to two. The teams went back and forth, trading leads until just under a minute to go in the half. Sophomore guard Asha Phillips found graduate guard Sarah Schmitt for a layup, giving the Vandals the 26-24 lead, which they took to halftime.
After a slow start in the half, both teams picked up offensively. The Vandals finished the half 11-for-26 from the field and 4-for-9 from beyond the arc and did not attempt a free throw in the first half. The Wildcats finished the half 9-for-29 from the field, 4-for-10 from the three-point line and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.
Even with the deficit, the Wildcats came out firing, and after a 13-2 run by the Wildcats, they pushed their lead to 37-28 and put the Vandals in a hole. The Vandals got outscored 22-14 in the third and trailed 46-40 heading into the fourth quarter. Weber was a perfect 4-for-4 from the three-point line in the third quarter to help extend their lead.
An early three by freshman forward Taylor Smith put the Wildcats back up seven with just under nine minutes to play. The Vandals clawed back and went on a 7-0 run, including a Wallace game-tying three pointer causing another Weber State timeout.
The Vandals fought till the end, but after a missed game-tying three-pointer by Johnson, the Vandals fell 61-56 to Weber and fell to 2-3 in conference play. Johnson led the Vandals with 18 points and added eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Sarah Brans had another impressive game, finishing with 15 points.
The normally aggressive and decisive Vandals were hesitant and timid on offense, Head Coach Carrie Eighmey spoke about the team’s hesitancy offensively. “I feel like for us, we passed up some really good looks tonight earlier in the clock, and I felt like our quality of shot went down after we would pass up those shots,” she said.
Eighmey would speak about the team’s third-quarter struggles, “I think a couple of things I felt we got some good looks that didn’t go down. But we made some offensive changes at the media timeout, which helped us with some things we wanted to do. They did a good job of taking those things away, and we had to make adjustments.”
The Vandals will look to end their three-game skid as they head to Flagstaff, Arizona, to take on 12-6 (3-1) Northern Arizona on Thursday, Jan. 27, at 5 p.m.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on X @JaydenBarfuss10