No. 8 Spartans eliminate Vandals

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Reserve Brittany Powell scored 20 points as eighth-seeded San Jose State opened the Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament Tuesday with a 72-66 win over No. 9 Idaho.

The Spartans will face top-seeded Boise State in the quarterfinals today.

Powell was part of a San Jose State (5-26) bench that outscored the Vandals’ bench 38-9.

The teams went into halftime tied at 34 behind the play of Powell, who scored 14, and the Vandals’ Lindsey Koppen, who had 12 points. The Spartans grabbed the definitive lead when they outscored Idaho (6-22) 20-9 in the first 6 minutes of the second half for a 54-43 lead.

Koppen finished with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including five 3-pointers for the Vandals, who hit 9 of 31 3-pointers. Liz Witte added 13 for the Vandals.

The Vandals came within 59-56 with 6:13 left following back-to-back 3-pointers by Koppen and Sara Dennehy. The Spartans responded with an 8-2 run, and the Vandals could not cut the lead to less than five points the rest of the way.

San Jose St. 72, Idaho 66

Idaho (6-22)- Witte 5-11 2-2 13, Koppen 7-15 3-4 22, Dennehy 2-14 2-2 8, Madison 3-10 4-6 10, Otero 2-12 0-0 4, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Malone 1-1 0-0 3, Wells 2-4 0-0 4, Schlotthauer 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 23-71 11-14 66.

San Jose State (5-26)- Williams 2-5 0-0 6, J. Hall 2-4 0-0 4, A. Hall 1-4 1-2 3, Barnes 6-12 1-3 14, Hicks 0-3 7-10 7, Boyagian 0-0 0-0 0, Steward 0-0 0-0 0, Lar. Griffin 0-0 0-0 0, Law. Griffin 0-0 0-0 0, White 2-6 6-6 10, Jacobs 3-7 2-2 8, Powell 8-17 4-4 20, Davis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-58 21-27 72.

Halftime—Idaho 34, San Jose State 34. 3-Point Goals—Idaho 9-31 (Koppen 5-9, Dennehy 2-7, Malone 1-1, Witte 1-5, Wells 0-1, Otero 0-8), San Jose State 3-11 (Williams 2-4, Barnes 1-1, Jacobs 0-1, Hicks 0-2, White 0-3). Fouled Out—Madison. Rebounds—Idaho 38 (Dennehy 9), San Jose State 51 (Hall 9). Assists—Idaho 15 (Otero 7), San Jose State 15 (Barnes 5). Total Fouls—Idaho 18, San Jose State 15. A—NA.