Vandals Hold Off Ewu Eagles Hit Nine 3-Pointers, But Idaho Finds A Way To Rally For Another Win

Eastern Washington University had no problem scoring behind the 3-point line all night Tuesday in its non-conference home game against the University of Idaho.

In fact, one more trey by the Eagles would have matched the team record of 10. But when they needed it most - down the stretch in a tight game - the Eagles failed to get off the shot and the result was a 74-69 Vandal win.

“They (Idaho) know how to win and we’re in situations where now we have to learn how to win,” said Eastern’s dejected first-year women’s basketball coach Jocelyn Pfeifer, whose team led 69-68 with 2:24 remaining.

The win was Idaho’s second straight come-from-behind victory in two nights. Monday against Big West Conference top dog Nevada, the Vandals trailed by four points with 25 seconds remaining before pulling out the win in double overtime.

Tuesday, against cross-border and former Big Sky nemesis Eastern, the Vandals trailed by as much as 68-63 when Eastern’s Courtney Horner scored on a short jumper.

But that’s when the Vandals (9-11) took over, tightening up their defense and forcing Eastern (3-15) to make poor decisions. Eastern’s only other point came at 3:03 when Amy Schmitt scored from the foul line. From there, the Vandals put together an 8-0 run. They took a 70-69 lead when Jennifer Stone sank 2 of 2 from the line. Susan Woolf followed 20 seconds later with two free throws to put the Vandals ahead by three with 34 seconds left.

Eastern - 9 of 20 from 3-point range - was setting itself up for a tie in the final seconds, but Tracy Ford’s bad pass created Eastern’s 17th turnover. The Vandals’ Kelli Johnson tacked on two more free throws, which made UI 6 for 6 from the line in the final 54 seconds.

“They know when they’ve got to bear down and they did it,” said coach Julie Holt, whose Vandals beat the Eagles earlier this year in Moscow. “They made some good choices and were smart offensively. I think the defense did a really good job.”

Idaho came out showing fatigue from the night before in a game starters Alli Nieman, Susan Woolf and Kathryn Gussett each logged 46 minutes.

After the Vandals took their biggest first-half lead, 29-25 with 3:52 remaining, Schmitt responded by hitting one of Eastern’s five 3-pointers in the first half.

Moments later, Horner landed a 3-pointer and Juli Carlson closed out the half with a layup to give Eastern a 34-32 lead.

In the second half, the Eagles held a 65-58 lead but were outscored 16-4 in the final 7:10.

Eastern’s Tracy Ford led all scorers with 19 points (7 of 18) while Schmitt was an impressive 3 of 5 from 3-point range. Ford, Eastern’s leading scorer, along with two reserves, did not make last weekend’s road trip. Pfeifer said it was because of “disciplinary reasons.” She confirmed Ford was one of the three but declined to name the others.

Idaho 74, Eastern Washington 69

Idaho (9-11) - Johnson 5-12 3-4 15, Woolf 2-7 6-10 12, Newman 1-2 0-0 2, Gussett 3-4 1-2 7, McDaniel 5-8 0-0 11, Purcell 0-1 0-0 0, Rico 0-0 0-0 0, Nieman 5-8 6-6 16, Stone 3-6 5-6 11, Bloom 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-49 21-28 74.

Eastern Washington (3-15) - Waddell 1-1 0-0 3, Galloway 3-6 0-0 7, Schmitt 3-5 1-2 10, Dukes 0-0 0-0 0, Ford 7-18 3-4 19, Horner 4-8 0-0 10, Carlson 4-9 4-6 12, Moore 3-8 0-0 6, Davies 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 26-58 8-12 69.

Halftime - Eastern Washington 34, Idaho 32. 3-point goals - Idaho 5-11 (McDaniel 1-1, Johnson 2-4, Woolf 2-6), Eastern Washington 9-20 (Waddell 1-1, Schmitt 3-5, Ford 2-5, Horner 2-5, Galloway 1-4). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - Idaho 33 (Stone 8), Eastern Washington 31 (Carlson 9). Assists - Idaho 18 (Woolf 7), Eastern Washington 18 (Schmitt 5). Total fouls - Idaho 16, Eastern Washington 19. Technicals - None. A - 587.

, DataTimes