Vandals Score First Win At Montana’S Expense

Women’s basketball

The University of Idaho women’s basketball team snapped a season-opening four-game losing streak Thursday by defeating Montana 73-68.

The win also halted a 23-game losing streak to the Lady Griz, which last lost to Idaho on Feb. 8, 1985.

“It’s a great feeling to win for both the players and the coaches,” Idaho coach Hilary Recknor said. “Montana is always a way to measure yourself and our kids stepped up tonight and put it all together as a team.”

The Vandals came out aggressive from the get-go, hitting 3-pointers and getting to the free-throw line often. The Vandals took an early 7-6 lead with 15:56 remaining in the first half and held the lead throughout.

Idaho’s Julie Wynstra led all scorers with 20 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Darci Pemberton had a game-high eight rebounds and scored 13 points for the Vandals, despite sitting a good deal of the second half after getting into foul trouble.

Idaho 73, Montana 68

Montana (3-1) - Cooper 5-11 2-2 12, Keller 3-6 1-2 8, Cummings 2-8 2-2 6, Lorenzen 1-6 0-1 2, Valley 2-6 0-2 4, Farris 0-1 1-2 1, Montes 2-3 1-1 6, Henkel 0-2 0-0 0, Schildt 4-6 3-5 13, Deming 7-10 2-2 16. Totals 26-59 12-19 68.

Idaho (1-4) - Goss 1-2 0-1 2, Pemberton 5-10 1-2 13, Rico 2-4 7-10 11, Bloom 2-4 0-0 4, Wynstra 6-15 8-11 20, Schooler 0-1 2-2 2, LeBlanc 1-6 0-0 2, Brown 2-4 0-0 4, Krell 2-5 0-0 5, Benad 0-0 0-0 0, Coldren 4-5 0-0 10. Totals 25-56 18-26 73.

Halftime-Idaho 29, Montana 24. 3-point goals-Montana 4-10 (Schildt 2-3, Keller 1-1, Montes 1-2, Lorenzen 0-1, Cooper 0-3), Idaho 5-13 (Coldren 2-2, Pemberton 2-3, Krell 1-3, Rico 0-1, Schooler 0-1, LeBlanc 0-3). Fouled out- Montes. Rebounds-Montana 38 (Cummings 6), Idaho 37 (Pemberton 8). Assists-Montana 18 (Montes 9), Idaho 18 (Rico 5). Total fouls-Montana 21, Idaho 19. A-693.

BYU 90, WSU 58

On this promotional autograph night, fans didn’t need to wait around to receive the Washington State University women’s basketball players’ scribblings on their free posters.

That’s because most had already witnessed what has become WSU’s signature performance.

In a flashback to last season’s style of play, Washington State allowed Brigham Young to go on an 18-0 run early in the second half. That run propelled BYU to a 90-58 win in front of 504 fans at Friel Court Thursday. With the win, BYU moved to 3-1. Washington State fell to 2-2.

“It was definitely a step back,” said junior Sarah Barrett.

Washington State stayed remarkably close in the first half, considering it was shooting 29 percent at one point and BYU was shooting 64 percent. Brigham Young shot so well because it was able to get any shot it wanted. Washington State’s post defenders were either stuck behind the BYU post players or defending on the high side. This allowed BYU to get the ball deep or catch and spin to the baseline for a bucket.

Brigham Young point guard Stacy Jensen was also able to use the drive-and-dish to exploit the WSU defense. She scored eight of her 11 points during her team’s 18-0 run.

“They were reaching and getting up tight on us and we wanted to keep them honest,” said BYU coach Trent Shippen.

“They did a great job of taking it right to us,” said Przekwas. “They broke us down on the penetration all night.”

The success inside clearly freed up BYU’s outside game. Brigham Young shot 10 of 14 from behind the 3-point arc. For the game, BYU shot 61.5 percent from the floor. Heather Cheesman led BYU with 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting.

“We weren’t in the right spots or playing very smart,” said Barrett. “We were helping on the wrong people.”

“I don’t think there was much presence anywhere,” added Przekwas about the defense.

Washington State will play host to Idaho at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Brigham Young (3-1) - Cheesman 7-11 0-0 16, Thorn 5-9 2-2 14, Osguthorpe 3-3 4-4 11, Jensen 3-4 4-4 11, Cox 3-4 2-3 9, Shippen 3-6 0-0 8, Whetten 3-4 1-1 8, Rose 2-5 2-2 6, Beus 3-6 0-2 6. Totals 32-52 16-20 90.

Washington State (2-2) - Volkman 5-11 1-2 13, Berglund 4-9 3-6 11, Hawks 3-10 1-1 7, Nyseth 2-8 0-0 5, Smith 2-4 0-0 5, Harrod 2-5 1-2 5, Barrett 2-3 0-0 4, Dugan 1-3 0-0 2, Collins 1-2 0-0 2, Fields 1-2 0-0 2, Ottmar 1-2 0-0 2, Martindale 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan 0-1 0-0 0, Bragg 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 6-11 58.

Halftime-Brigham Young 39, washington State 34. 3-point goals-Brigham Young 10-14 (Thorn 2-4, Cheesman 2-2, Shippen 2-3, Jensen 1-2, Cox 1-1, Osguthorpe 1-1, Whetten 1-1), Washington State 4-12 (Volkman 2-3, Smith 1-3, Nyseth 1-4, Harrod 0-1, Martindale 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Brigham Young 34 (Osguthorpe 9), Washington State 30 (Hawks, Berglund 6). Assists- Brigham Young 17 (Osguthorpe 4), Washington State 16 (Nyseth 7). Total fouls- Brigham Young 12, Washington State 18. Technicals-None. A-504.