Vandals, Eagles pick up road wins in Big Sky women’s basketball

Mikayla Ferenz and Taylor Pierce combined to make 11 of Idaho’s 17 3-pointers and the Vandals defeated Montana State 95-77 in a Big Sky Conference women’s basketball game in Bozeman on Thursday night.

The win was the first for the Vandals against Montana State in the last nine tries.

“It feels great,” Vandals coach Don Newlee said. “I didn’t realize that we had lost eight in a row to them. That was the last thing I told the team. I said, ‘This thing ends tonight.’ The team really took that to heart.”

Ferenz scored 29 points, making 7 of 10 3-pointers and 9 of 13 from the field. She became the seventh player in program history to surpass the 1,500-point mark. She has 1,522 career points. For good measure, she had seven rebounds and seven assists.

Pierce, who made 4 of 9 3-point attempts and 7 of 12 from the field, scored 20 points as Idaho (13-10, 9-3 Big Sky) remained in second place in the conference. Northern Colorado defeated Northern Arizona 85-63 to remain in first place at 11-3.

Two Greater Spokane League alums led the way for the Bobcats (13-11, 7-6). Mead’s Delany Junkermier scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds. Hannah Caudill, out of Gonzaga Prep, had 11 points and eight assists.

Eastern Washington 75, Montana 72: Coach Wendy Schuller picked up the 250th victory of her EWU career as the Eagles built an early double-digit lead and held on to defeat the Grizzlies in Missoula.

The Eagles (13-12, 8-5) led by as many as 14 points in the first quarter and held a 57-47 lead heading into the fourth before holding off a Montana rally.

Delaney Hodgins scored 24 points for EWU. Symone Starks added 15 points and Violet Kapri Morrow scored 14 as the Eagles won in Missoula for just the fifth time.

Madi Schoening led Montana with 16 points.