In college basketball, home-court advantage is usually a great thing. That has been the opposite for the Idaho women’s basketball team, which had dropped five-straight home games and held a 3-8 home record before the game against Sacramento State.
The Vandals ended their five-game home losing streak with a 70-64 victory over the Hornets on Feb. 5, getting Head Coach Carrie Eighmey her first division one win at home this season.
“This was an important win for us. It’s not something we talked about, but I think it was wearing on the team a little bit just to try and get a win here at home,” Eighmey said. “And our fans are so loyal and faithful and have been coming out. We have had great crowds. I think our team also wanted to win for them.”
With the Vandals having two consecutive bad starts to games, they wanted to get out of the gates hot. After going down 5-0, graduate guard Amalie Langer got Idaho on the board, and the Vandals found their rhythm. After the Langer layup, the Vandals went on a 16-7 run and took an 18-12 lead into the second quarter.
The Hornets were not going down without a fight and went on an 11-0 run to overcome a six-point deficit and, after a three-pointer, led the Vandals 25-20, forcing them to call a timeout. The timeout calmed the Vandals down as they went on a 6-0 run, and from then till the end of the half, the teams went back and forth.
Two late free throws by graduate guard Sarah Schmitt led the Vandals to take a slim 34-32 lead into the halftime break. Both teams had moments in the first half and shot the basketball efficiently.
The Hornets finished the half shooting 10-for-28 from the field, 4-for-12 from three and 6-for-7 from the free throw line. The Vandals were better than the Hornets, finishing 11-for-22 from the field, 1-for-4 from beyond the arc and an impressive 11-for-13 from the free-throw line.
Coming out of halftime, the Vandals outscored the Hornets 24-14 and built a comfortable 58-46 lead going into the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter was not a great offensive quarter for the Vandals, shooting 3-for-16 from the field. The Vandals’ leaders, Schmitt and junior forward Kennedy Johnson, stepped up and made sure the Vandals would not lose.
With 34 seconds left, Sarah Schmitt had an opportunity to ice the game and finally end the losing streak. With ICCU Arena dead quiet, Schmitt approached the free-throw line and bounced the ball. The crowd could sense the tension as Schmitt calmly swished the first one and nailed the second one to push the Vandals’ lead to 70-61.
A three-pointer by the Hornets cut the lead to six, but the Vandals pulled out the 70-64 win. As the buzzer sounded, the arena roared as the Vandals completed the season sweep of the Hornets and finally ended their long losing streak at ICCU Arena.
The leaders down the stretch, notably Schmitt, helped put the game away. Eighmey heaped praise on her point guard’s leadership in the fourth quarter.
“Sarah does such a good job managing the game,” Eighmey said. “She did an excellent job leading the game, managing the time and score, getting to the line, and knocking them down.”
The key to this game was starting fast and not letting the score get out of hand early. “We had a talk as a team on Saturday about some things we need to fix, just coming out more aggressive, not playing scared, and being ready from the jump,” Schmitt said. “I think those things helped a little bit today.”
Schmitt, being one of the leaders on this team, spoke about the Vandals’ poise down the stretch in the fourth quarter. “We have to trust each other through those moments and just know that someone’s going to be there when we’re getting pressured, we did a pretty good job not turning the ball over in those situations.”
The Vandals’ leaders, Johnson and Schmitt, combined for 35 points and 14 rebounds. To help secure the victory, Johnson led the team with 21 points and seven rebounds. Schmitt added 14 points and seven rebounds. Nine of her 14 points were from the foul line.
The Hornets were led by freshman forward Summah Hanson, who finished with a game-high 23 points, and redshirt sophomore Benthe Versteeg added 19 to keep the Hornets in the game.
The Vandals will hit the road and head across the state border to Cheney, Washington, to take on the red-hot Eastern Washington Eagles for their next game on Feb. 10 at 2 p.m. Eighmey expects nothing less than a great game.
“We’re going to have to have a great week of preparation and go in ready for a battle,” she said.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on X @JaydenBarfuss10