Vandals Lose; Clinesmith Scores 34 For Ucsb

For Idaho, losing once to Boise State this season was distasteful and twice was almost unbearable.

All of which made a third setback - a season-ending 73-61 decision in Thursday’s semifinals of the women’s Big West tournament - akin to a 2-hour root canal.

If this was UI coach Julie Holt’s last game, perhaps her only fond memory will be of a furious comeback that faded in the end.

“Obviously we didn’t play very well,” said Holt, whose husband, Nick, left UI a few months ago to become an assistant football coach at Louisville. “There’s such a rivalry between Boise State and Idaho, it’s very intense. I wish we’d done our half.”

Holt said she’ll decide on her plans in the next few days.

Idaho finished 15-15. BSU (19-9), which topped the Vandals by 15, 10 and 12, moved into Saturday’s title game against UC Santa Barbara, which defeated Nevada 95-88 in overtime Thursday.

UCSB’s Stacy Clinesmith, a Mead High graduate, scored a career-high 34 points as the Gauchos (25-5) rallied from a 20-point first-half deficit. In overtime, she scored seven points and added an assist and a steal.

In the Idaho-Boise State game, Idaho’s troubles started in the opening seconds when Jennifer Stone missed two free throws.

The Vandals were down 10-3 and couldn’t make up ground because they missed 7 of 10 free throws in the opening 10 minutes. By then, BSU had a double-digit lead that it stretched to 15 at half after outrebounding Idaho by 11.

Holt employed a zone defense early after seeing BSU struggle against a zone in Wednesday’s win over Pacific. Also, she wanted a change-up after UI had played man-to-man in the two previous BSU games.

It was good in theory, but it failed in execution. Block worked over the Vandals with turnarounds from the low post. If UI sagged inside, BSU shooters connected from the perimeter.

“They were trying to mix things up, starting out in zone, which we kind of figured they’d do,” BSU coach Trisha Stevens said. “When they went man, they were trying to take away the inside game and that got our outside going.”

BSU’s bench outscored UI’s 20-4. Heidi Umthun, a Post Falls High product, had 10 points, including five in an 8-0 run that gave BSU its biggest lead at 56-32 midway through the second half.

The Vandals put together an impressive rally, spurred by Alli Nieman’s 12 second-half points. Idaho was down 66-59 after Kelli Johnson’s steal and layup with 1:23 left.

Block scored on a 7-foot turnaround and Lewis hit five free throws.

Boise St. 73, Idaho 61

Idaho (15-15)- Gussett 1-6 2-5 4, Nieman 7-13 5-6 19, Stone 6-11 2-5 14, Johnson 4-8 0-0 9, Woolf 4-8 0-0 11, Newman 0-0 0-0 0, McDaniel 0-3 2-2 2, Purcell 0-1 0-0 0, Benad 0-0 0-0 0, Rico 0-0 0-0 0, Bloom 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 23-53 11-18 61.

Boise St. (19-9) - Lewis 3-6 7-9 16, Brydges 3-7 0-0 6, Block 7-14 2-2 16, Gray 3-7 2-2 8, Sumlin 2-7 2-3 7, Fortenberry 2-4 0-0 4, Barrios 1-3 0-0 3, Umthun 2-3 6-10 10, Freeman 0-1 0-0 0, Rainis 0-2 0-1 0, Durieux 0-0 0-0 0, Hodges 0-1 3-4 3. Totals 23-55 22-31 73.

Halftime - Boise St. 40, Idaho 25. 3-Point Goals - Idaho 4-10 (Woolf 3-6, Johnson 1-2, Gussett 0-1, Nieman 0-1), Boise St. 5-10 (Lewis 3-5, Barrios 1-2, Sumlin 1-3. Fouled Out - Gussett, Johnson, Brydges. Rebounds - Idaho 29 (Nieman 7), Boise St. 43 (Block 9). Assists - Idaho 16 (Gussett, Johnson 4), Boise St. 18 (Lewis 5). Total Fouls - Idaho 28, Boise St. 16. A - NA.

Mt. Hood 60, CC Spokane 54

The Sasquatch shot 27 percent from the field, leading to their loss in the first round of the NWAACC women’s tournament in Yakima.

Alana Carlander scored 22 points for CCS, but her 8-for-23 shooting (35 percent) was little better than the team average. Kelli Pilkington led CCS with 11 rebounds, but the double-figure scorer was held to two points. Leading scorer Shelley Massingale, averaging 17.3 points per game, managed 11.

The Sasquatch (22-9), the second seed from the East Region, are still alive for fourth place. They play Everett (16-16) in a loser-out game today.

Spokane - Pilkington 0-7 2-6 2, Bocook 2-8 2-3 7, Carlander 8-23 4-6 22, Watson 0-2, 0-0 0, Bradley 4-8 2-2 10, Sell 0-2 0-0 0, Wassingale 4-17 2-4 11, Reagan 1-1 0-0 2, Reardan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-69 12-21 54.

Mt. Hood - Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Hedlund 1-14 3-4 5, Close 4-7 1-2 9, Newton 2-4 5-10 9, Dumdeang 1-3 0-0 2, Farm 3-4 0-0 7, Mayer 9-19 4-5 22, Kemper 3-6 0-1 6. Totals - 23-57 13-22 60.

Halftime - Mt. Hood 37, CC Spokane 30. 3-point goals - CC Spokane 4-18 (Carlander 2-7, Massingale 1-3, Bocook 1-6, Watson 0-1, Sell 0-1), Mt Hood 1-5 (Farm 1-1, Hedlund 0-1, Kemper 0-1, Dumdeang 0-2). Fouled out - Pilkington. Rebounds - CC Spokane 48 (Pilkington 11), Mt. Hood 50 (Farm 11). Assists - CC Spokane 8 (Bocoook 5), Mt. Hood 11 (Hedlund 5). Total Fouls - CC Spokane 18, Mt. Hood 18. Technicals - none.

Big Sky tournament

All five starters scored in double figures Thursday, led by freshman Alison Bach with 14 points, as Montana State defeated Idaho State 59-55 in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament in Missoula.

Sixth-seed Montana State (12-15) will play tournament host Montana in a semifinal tonight.

Fourth-seeded Northridge (14-13) got by fifth-seeded Weber State 73-69 and will play Northern Arizona tonight.

, DataTimes