Vandals’ Rally Nets Big Sky Triumph

College women

The University of Idaho used a 16-4 run over the final 6:30 of the game to beat Idaho State 75-61 in Memorial Gym on Saturday night.

Leading 59-57, Kelli Johnson started the Vandals’ run when she hit the front end of a one-and-one with 6:28 to play.

After a Bengals (2-7, 3-20) free throw made the score 63-59 with 3:10 to play, the Vandals rattled off 12 consecutive points before Holly Togiai scored the final points of the game with 31 seconds left.

“I wasn’t real pleased with our effort in the first half,” Idaho coach Julie Holt said. “But in the second half it was excellent. It was a great team effort.”

Idaho’s Kerri Wykes had seven of her nine points in the second half.

“Kerri started to take it at them offensively in the second half,” Holt said. “That opened things up for our outside game and took some pressure off of Mindy (Rice) on the inside.”

Ari Skorpik and Kellie Johnson had 16 points each for the Vandals (3-6, 5-16). Mindy Rice added 15 points and 10 rebounds.

“This was a big win for us,” Holt added. “This keeps us alive in the Big Sky Tournament race. But you have to go one game at a time. The only thing I am thinking about now is the game against Eastern Washington.”

Idaho 75, Idaho State 61

IDAHO STATE (2-7, 3-20)

Beauchine 0-1 3-4 3, Nelson 5-11 1-3 11, Boles 3-8 1-2 8, Royse 1-2 0-1 2, Cheskaty 1-5 0-0 2, Togiai 6-16 4-5 16, Davis 3-3 0-0 6, Salness 6-11 1-2 13. Totals 25-57 10-17 61.

IDAHO

Ortner 2-3 0-0 6, Johnson 6-15 1-2 16, Anderson 1-3 0-1 2, James 1-1 0-0 2, Morris 0-0 0-0 0, Skorpik 4-9 5-8 16, McDaniel 0-2 0-0 0, Rice 7-12 1-2 15, Wykes 3-7 3-3 9, Payne 2-4 2-2 7, Ackerman 0-1 2-2. Totals 26-57 14-20 75.

Halftime-ISU 35, Idaho 31. 3-point goals-ISU 1-9 (Boles 1-4, Togiai 0-3, Nelson 0-2), Idaho 9-20 (Johnson 3-9, Skorpik 3-5, Ortner 2-2, Payne 1-3, Rice 0-1). Fouled out-Boles. Technicals: None. Rebounds-ISU 39 (Togiai 12), Idaho 35 (Rice 10). Assists-ISU 9 (Boles 3), Idaho 10 (Johnson 4). Total fouls-ISU 22, Idaho 20. A-785.

Whitworth 64, Whitman 57

The Pirates had just enough sandbags to stop the rising tide of the Missionaries at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

The win keeps the Pirates (8-2 NCIC, 14-11) at the top of the conference.

Whitworth ran out to an 18-7 lead before the Missionaries made a run to cut Whitworth’s halftime lead to 31-24.

Whitman would trim that even more, and the Missionaries cut it to 37-35 early in the second half, but that was as close as they would get.

The Pirates seemed lethargic. However, Whitworth coach Helen Higgs attributed that to the Missionaries’ style of play.

“They’re a very methodical team,” Higgs said. “Their style of play is so controlled that they don’t let you get that high or that big spark that teams like us like to feed off of.”

There was a brief pregame ceremony for seniors Annette Sweeney, Amy Roberts and Kim McFadden who, depending on the outcome of pairings for the NCIC tournament, may have played their last home game.

Fittingly, the senior trio paced Whitworth scorers. Sweeney finished with a game-high 17 points, McFadden scored 16 on 7-for-12 shooting - including two 3-pointers - and Roberts had 11 points and seven assists.

McFadden also had four assists, which puts her 18 away from the Whitworth all-time assists record of 386 held by Kivonne Tucker.

Next week, the Pirates travel to Pacific and Lewis & Clark, with the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges crown on the line. As of Saturday, the Pirates were tied with Willamette, but because they beat the Bearcats both times this season, the Pirates own the tiebreaker.

Should the Pirates win the conference, they will host the NCIC postseason tournament.

WHITMAN

Skeeters 0-0 0-0 0, Enzminger 3-6 2-3 8, Weissbeck 4-12 3-3 11, Repanich 0-3 0-0 0, Lampe 5-7 0-1 12, Bradford 6-10 0-5 12, Johnson 4-10 5-6 15. Totals 22 48 10-18 57.

WHITWORTH (8-2, 14-11)

McFadden 7-12 0-2 16, Sherer 2-7 5-7 9, Roberts 5-9 0-0 11, Sweeney 5-15 3-4 17, 2-10 2-3 6, Northington 2-6 1-2 5, Elliott 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-60 11-8 64.

Halftime-Whitworth 31, Whitman 24. 3-point goals- Whitman 3-10 (Weissbeck 0-5, Lampe 2-2, Bradford 0-1, Johnson 1-2), Whitworth 7-14 (McFadden 2-4, Sherer 0-1, Roberts 1-1, Sweeney 4-8). Fouled out-none. Rebounds- Whitman 34 (Weissbeck 11), Whitworth 44 (Sherer 8). Assists- Whitman 9 (Enzminger 5), Whitworth 17 (McFadden, Tissue 4). Total fouls-Whitman 17, Whitworth 19. A-n/a.

Gonzaga 80, Loyola Marymount 66

The Bulldogs used a 12-0 run in the middle of the first half and a 7-0 run late in the game to put the Lions (2-8 WCC, 5-16) on the ropes and finish them off at the Martin Centre.

Ivy Safranski turned in a 22-point, five-rebound, seven-assist performance to lead the Bulldogs.

Gonzaga (4-6, 9-12) got a lift from Amy Jo Silva and Staci Andrews, who scored 14 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench.

The GU bench outscored the LMU bench 29-15.

LMU (2-8, 5-16)

Webb 3-9 2-2 8, Ishikawa 1-6 2-2 4, Hart 1-3 0-0 2, Beam 6-12 1-2 13, White 9-21 6-8 24, Caviezel 1-3 1-4 3, Cunningham 1-3 1-2 4, Warren 2-5 1-4 5, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Groholoski 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 25-64 14-24 66.

GONZAGA (4-6, 9-12)

Herman 3-6 2-3 8, Safranski 9-14 0-0 22, Howell 5-8 1-1 11, Christensen 2-8 0-0 4, Pauley 3-8 0-0 6, Andrews 5-6 1-1 11, Gere 2-2 0-0 4, Silva 5-11 4-4 14, McCliment 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-63 8-9 80.

Halftime-Gonzaga 43, LMU 28. 3-point goals-LMU 2-4 (Caviezel 0-1, Cunningham 1-1, Groholski 1-1), Gonzaga 4-13 (Herman 0-2, Safranski 4-7, Christensen 0-1, Pauley 0-3). Fouled out-none. Rebounds-LMU 33 (White 8), Gonzaga 43 (Howell 10). Assists-LMU 8 (Ishikawa, Beam, Warren 2), Gonzaga 16 (Safranski 7). Total fouls-LMU 14, Gonzaga 18. A-982.

Boise St. 63, E. Washington 58

Kellie Lewis made four free throws and had a key steal in the final 23 seconds as the Broncos held off the Eagles at Reese Court.

Despite the loss, Eastern (4-5 Big Sky, 8-13) remained in a tie for fourth with Northern Arizona in the Big Sky Conference standings.

Eastern trailed 56-47 with 5:59 to play, but used an 11-3 run to pull within a single point with 1:25 left.

The Eagles missed three shots that could have given them the lead before Lewis made the free throws.

BOISE STATE (7-2, 13-8)

Loveall 1-1 1-2 3, Brydges 3-8 0-2 7, Guild 8-17 1-4 17, Lewis 1-1 4-4 6, Schultz 3-13 8-9 14, Berg 0-0 0-0 0, Pierson 0-1 0-0 0, Perry 4-6 2-3 10, Smith 3-5 0-1 6. Totals 23-52 16-25 63.

EASTERN (4-5, 8-13)

Smith 5-12 0-0 12, Missall 7-13 1-4 15, Napier 5-14 3-4 13, Watterson 1-5 0-1 3, Sutter 1-5 0-0 2, Laky 3-8 2-4 8, Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Graber 1-1 2-2 5. Totals 23-58 8-15 58.

Halftime-BSU 29, Eastern 23. 3-point goals-BSU 1-5 (Brydges 1-3, Schultz 0-2), Eastern 4-7 (Smith 2-2, Napier 0-1, Watterson 1-2, Laky 0-1, Graber 1-1). Fouled out-Loveall, Missall. Rebounds-BSU 31 (Guild 11), Eastern 47 (Missall 12). Assists-BSU 16 (Schultz 6), Eastern 19 (Sutter 9). Total fouls- BSU 19, Eastern 24. Technicals-none. A-578.