Rice Scores 23, Lifts Idaho Over Msu

Mindy Rice had 23 points and seven rebounds Saturday night to lead Idaho to an 80-72 Big Sky Conference women’s basketball victory over Montana State in Moscow, Idaho.

Montana State (10-10, 4-3 Big Sky) led 35-34 at halftime, but cooled from 50 percent shooting in the first half to 37 percent in the second half.

Idaho (7-13, 3-4) improved from 32 percent shooting in the first half to 56 percent in the second half.

The difference in the game came at the foul line, where Montana State hit 12 of 16 shots while Idaho was 20 of 28.

Also in double figures for Idaho were Ari Skorpik with 14 points and Kelli Johnson with 12 points. Skorpik also had seven assists.

Idaho 80, Montana State 72

Montana State (72) - Brown 4-11 2-2 14, Hommes 4-12 2-2 10, Beil 8-14 0-0 16, Svendsen 7-12 5-6 21, Smith 1-5 0-0 2, Spring 0-2 0-0 0, Smith 3-5 1-2 7, Ballek 0-2 2-4 2. Totals 27-63 12-16 72.

Idaho (80) - Johnson 3-12 5-6 12, Hawks 2-5 2-2 6, Rice 8-14 6-10 23, Skorpik 4-12 2-4 14, McDaniel 1-4 2-2 4, Ortner 2-5 1-2 7, Morris 1-2 0-0 2, Greenwood 3-3 1-1 7, Stone 2-4 1-1 5. Totals 26-61 20-28 80

3-point goals-Montana St. 6-16 (Brown 4-9, Svendsen 2-5, S. Smith 0-1, Spring 0-1), Idaho 8-21 (Johnson 1-6, Rice 1-1, Skorpik 4-9, Ortner 2-5). Fouled out-none. Rebounds-Montana St. 50 (Beil 15), Idaho 31 (Rice 7). Assists-Montana St. 10 (S. Smith 4), Idaho 18 (Skorpik 7). Total fouls-Montana St. 23, Idaho 17. Halftime score-)Montana St. 35, Idaho 34. Technicals-none. A-924

WSU 71, Arizona 65

Senior forward Jennie Ruff scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Cougars past the Wildcats.

“That Ruff is tough inside,” said Arizona coach Joan Bonvicini. “We kept running double teams at her, she’d step through them, get off the shot and hit it.”

With Arizona holding a 53-52 lead in the second half, Ruff scored nine of WSU’s last 19 points - from outside and inside. She was 12 for 23 and played all but a minute of the game.

“The last couple of games, I’ve actually been more tired at the start then at the end,” Ruff said. “Today, I had more energy at the start and felt a lot better.”

Washington State moved its record to 15-5 overall and 6-3 in conference. Arizona dropped its third straight and fell to 13-5, 4-5.

While Arizona’s leading scorer, Adia Barnes, finished with a team-high 17 points on 8-for-15 shooting, the physical 5-11 forward was out of position most of the game.

Saturday’s contest marked the return of Arizona’s Jacque Clark to the area. The 6-2 Central Valley alum found the going rough and scored just four points in 26 minutes.

Clark, at 6-2, spent most of her time trying to keep up with WSU’s 6-4 Yvonne Kunze. Kuze finished with 15 points to go along with Julie Wight’s 11 and Erickson’s 10.

Arizona (13-5) - Barnes 8-15 1-2 17, Constand 2-8 0-0 5, Clark 2-2 0-0 4, Pantoja 5-15 2-5 14, Minter 1-4 0-0 2, Hambrick 1-1 0-0 2, Crank 2-6 2-2 8, Girdano 3-3 0-0 6, Imara 0-0 0-0 0, Alexander 4-4 0-0 8. Totals 28-58 5-9 65.

Washington State (15-5) - Ruff 12-23 1-3 25, Erickson 4-13 0-0 10, Kunze 6-9 3-6 15, Hyett 0-3 2-3 2, Wight 3-7 3-4 11, Kronberger 1-4 0-0 3, Kerns 1-1 0-0 3, Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Wilder 0-1 2-4 2, Keith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-61 11-20 71.

Halftime-Arizona 33, Washington State 32. 3-Point goals- Arizona 4-14 (Constand 1-5, Pantoja 2-7, Minter 0-1, Crank 1-1), Washington State 6-17 (Ruff 0-1, Erickson 2-5, Hyett 0-1, Wight 2-5, Kronberger 1-4, Kerns 1-1). Fouled out-Barnes. Rebounds- Arizona 39 (Barnes 13), Washington State 34 (Kunze 11). Assists- Arizona 15 (Pantoja 6), Washington State 18 (Hyett 6). Total fouls- Arizona 19, Washington State 13. A-579.

Snow College 65, NIC 59

Free-throw shooting proved to be the downfall of the North Idaho Cardinals women in its loss to Snow College in Ephraim, Utah.

While NIC made only 9 of 23 shots from the foul line for 39 percent, the Badgers connected on 24 of 41 attempts.

Tanya Kirk paced the Cardinals with a game-high 23 points, while teammate Sid Schrausnagel pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

The loss drops NIC to 15-6 overall and 5-6 in conference play.

North Idaho - Radmall 0-3 0-3 0, Grohs 0-2 1-2 1, Howarton 2-6 0-0 5, Jacques 1-1 0-0 3, Richards 3-7 0-1 6, Viebrock 4-7 1-2 9, Nearing 0-3 0-1 0, Burgess 0-0 1-3 1, Rainer 2-7 3-4 7, Schrausnagel 2-4 0-1 4, Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Kirk 10-21 3-6 23. Totals 24-61 9-23 59.

Snow College - Groll 2-2 1-5 5, Berry 0-3 0-0 0, Peterson 1-4 2-3 4, Bradley 2-8 2-3 7, Pearson 3-7 6-11 14, Rogers 2-8 8-11 12, Adams 3-5 0-1 6, Olsen 2-7 0-0 6, Lee 3-5 5-8 11. Totals 18-49 24-41 65.

Halftime - NIC 30 Snow 27. 3-point goals - NIC 2 (Radwall 0-2, Howarton 1-4, Jacques 1-1, Richards 0-2, Kirk 0-3), Snow College 5 (Berry 0-3, Bradly 1-2, Pearsobn 2-5, Adams 0-1, Olsen 2-3). Total fouls - NIC 32 Snow College 23. Fouled out - Richards. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - NIC 40 (Shrausnagel 9), Snow College 37 ( Rogers 7). Assists - NIC 20 (Richards 8) Snow College 16 (Adams 6). Att - 300

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