Cougars Use Second-Half Surge To End Drought Against Vandals

The University of Idaho’s win streak, however modest, was still excruciating for Washington State.

So the Cougars finally did something about it. They beat their neighbors in women’s basketball for the first time in the last four tries.

Washington State used a 22-4 second-half run to defeat the Vandals 68-52 in front of 607 fans at Friel Court Saturday.

“I know that the win was really big for the seniors,” said WSU senior guard Katie Nyseth. “For the past three years, we have lost to them and then to win and to come back on them like we did, that just makes it a lot more exciting.”

With the win, Washington State moved to 3-2. Idaho fell to 1-5.

Idaho fell because its shots wouldn’t fall. In the second half, the Vandals had more fouls (19) than field goals (18). They shot 21 percent. They only scored 19 points during those 20 minutes (six field goals and seven free throws). And after leading 48-46 with 6:40 left in the game, the Vandals only scored four points.

Meanwhile the Cougars scored 22 points in the last 6:40.

“That was the poorest defense I’ve ever seen us play,” said Idaho coach Hilary Recknor.

The reason the defense was so poor is that it couldn’t keep up with the smaller, quicker Cougars offense.

“They made one lineup change and we didn’t adjust,” said Recknor.

Besides taking out the center, WSU coach Jenny Przekwas told forward Jessica Ottmar to penetrate and score. Ottmar, a sophomore who was averaging 1.8 points per game, followed the coach’s instructions.

“Ott figured out what was going to beat this team, that was penetrate middle and pull up,” said Przekwas.

With WSU trailing 35-22, Ottmar scored 11 straight points to pull the Cougars within four at 37-33.

“We were really pushing the ball and there were a lot of gaps,” said Ottmar, who scored her team-high 17 points in 14 minutes of playing time. “Getting in those gaps and going 110 percent. That was what we did.”

By the time Ottmar picked up her fourth foul at 15:25, the rest of the Cougars had picked up on her strategy.

Idaho had still not figured it out.

The Vandals had successfully scored in the paint anytime they wanted in the first half. In fact, nine of their first 12 field goals came from 3 feet or less. The other three were wide-open 3-pointers that were a result of the Cougars’ collapsing defense.

In the second half, everything changed.

“Every time I got the ball (in the post), there were two little guards running at me,” said Idaho center Julie Wynstra. “We should’ve posted better.”

The Vandals also lost point guard Tasha Rico to an ankle injury with 16:20 left in the game. Rico already had five assists, and the the Vandals clearly missed her.

Still, Recknor didn’t use that injury as an excuse.

“In terms of talent and what we can put out there, it shouldn’t have affected us,” the coach said. “We just stopped working together.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum were the Cougars. Washington State guards Nyseth and Jessica Collins began to grab outlet passes and push the ball. They also pressured the lesser-experienced Vandals guards.

It was Collins who put the Cougars up for good. The senior stole the ball, went the other way and scored traditional three-point plays to put WSU ahead 49-48.

Quite a change after trailing by as many as 13 in the second half. But according to Przekwas this team is all about change.

“We are to the point where we are getting better daily and we are going to continue to improve,” she said.