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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Big Second Half Earns UI Victory

The University of Idaho erupted for 48 points in the second half to defeat Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 75-60 in a non-conference women’s basketball game in Memorial Gym in Moscow, Idaho, on Monday.

Trailing 31-27 at halftime, the Vandals (2-9) outscored the Mustangs by 19 points in the final 20 minutes to pick up their second consecutive victory.

Freshman Kellie Johnson had her best game of the season with 21 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. Point guard Ari Skorpik had 18 points to go with five assists and six steals. Mindy Rice added 17 points, all in the second half, and pulled down nine rebounds.

Kellie Hoffman had 17 to lead the Mustangs (3-10) and Christine Rodness added 15.

“We were supposed to go inside in the first half, but we made some poor choices,” said Vandals coach Julie Holt. “In the second half, we went back to our game plan and were successful.”

Idaho took the lead for good at 42-41 midway through the second half and led by as many as 10 on two occasions. The Vandals hit 12 of 13 free throws in the final 3 minutes to seal the victory.

Cal Poly (3-10) actually made one more field goal than Idaho, but the difference was at the free-throw line. The Mustangs converted 8 of 13 in the game while the Vandals hit 25 of 32, including 22 of 26 in the second half.

CAL POLY-SLO (3-10)

Carey 1-3 1-2 3, Bruse 1-1 4-6 6, Volk 4-9 1-2 11, Rodness 6-17 1-1 15, Hoffman 7-15 1-2 17, Bevian 0-1 0-0 0, Bauer 2-6 0-0 4, Girard 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 23-57 8-13 60.

IDAHO (2-9)

Morris 2-3 0-0 4, Wykes 1-7 3-4 5, Hymas 1-3 1-1 3, Johnson 5-17 6-6 21, Skorpik 4-10 9-10 18, Ortner 0-4 0-0 0, Anderson 1-1 0-1 2, James 0-0 0-2 0, McDaniel 2-4 1-2 5, Payne 0-0 0-0 0, Ackerman 0-0 0-0 0, Beard 0-0 0-0 0, Rice 6-13 5-6 17, Rademacher 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-62 25-32 75.

Halftime - Cal Poly-SLO 31, Idaho 27. 3-Point goals - Cal Poly-SLO 6-14 (Volk 2-5, Rodness 2-5, Hoffman 2-3), Idaho 6-20 (Johnson 5-15, Skorpik 1-2, Ortner 0-3). Total Fouls - Cal Poly-SLO 24, Idaho 14. Fouled Out - Volk, Rodness. Rebounds - Cal Poly-SLO 39 (Carey 10), Idaho 44 (Rice 9). Assists - Cal Poly-SLO 13 (Volk 7), Idaho 17 (Johnson 6). Attendance - 176.Whitworth (5-9), which had lost by 19 points to L-C State earlier in Spokane, opens Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges play Saturday at home against Pacific Lutheran.

Men’s basketball

Gonzaga University will have five home games televised live on Prime Sports Northwest this year, beginning with today’s 7 p.m. visit from the University of Idaho.

PSN will also air four West Coast Conference matchups - Saint Mary’s on Jan. 21 at 7 p.m., Pepperdine on Feb. 4 at 7, Portland on Feb. 15 at 8:30 and San Diego on Feb. 25 at 8. Southwest Airlines and NorthTown are the lead sponsors.

Idaho prep basketball

A handful of North Idaho high schools return to the court tonight from the holiday break.

One boys game - Kellogg at Post Falls - will feature two teams that had arguably the best showings in December.

It’s a rematch of an earlier non-league game. Kellogg tripped visiting Post Falls 60-58 three weeks ago. Kellogg is 6-1, its loss coming to West Valley of Spokane (91-85). Post Falls is 7-1 and coming off a big 68-66 win over West Valley last week.

Tipoff is at 7:30. All other games begin at 8.

In other non-league boys games, Lake City (5-3) goes to Lakeland (1-5) and Bonners Ferry (5-1) is at Sandpoint (2-8).

In an Inland Empire League girls game, Sandpoint (2-1 in league, 11-3 overall) visits Coeur d’Alene (0-3, 3-11). In nonleague games, Post Falls (3-9) travels to Colville (4-4) and Mullan (2-7) goes to Wallace (9-3).