Area roundup: Big Sky women’s race heats up

The Big Sky Conference women’s basketball race tightened noticeably on Thursday as front-running Eastern Washington lost and Idaho won to narrow the gap on the Eagles.

Portland State, winless in league play entering Thursday’s game, defeated previously undefeated Eastern Washington 81-79. Idaho defeated Sacramento State 98-88 to close within a game of new co-leaders EWU and Montana State, which was idle. EWU fell to 7-1 in conference, Montana State remains 7-1 and Idaho is 6-2.

Idaho 98, Sacramento State 88: Christina Salvatore led a sizzling second half in which the Vandals (14-6, 6-2 Big Sky) scored 53 points and shot 64.5 percent from the field to defeat the Hornets (7-11, 4-3) in Sacramento, California.

Salvatore, one of Idaho’s starting guards, finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. She made 4 of 5 3-pointers. Ali Forde came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points.

Portland State 81, Eastern Washington 79: The Eagles fell behind early, being outscored 24-9 in the first period and trailing 42-32 at halftime in Portland.

The Eagles eventually tied the game at 78, with one minute remaining. But the comeback came to an end after one last Portland State 3-pointer iced the game with 35 seconds left.

Santa Clara 71, Gonzaga 64: The Bulldogs’ starters managed 12 points as Gonzaga fell to the Broncos in Santa Clara, California.

Jill Barta scored 28 points in 24 minutes off the bench for Gonzaga (14-8, 6-4 WCC).

Taylor Berry scored 18 points to lead Santa Clara (16-5, 7-3).

Salt Lake CC 89, North Idaho 60: The Bruins jumped to 45-24 halftime lead and went on to defeat the Cardinals in a matchup of Top 25 teams in Salt Lake City.

Shelby Cloninger led No. 23 NIC (17-4, 5-3 Scenic West) with 20 points. Ebony Norman added 11 points.

Iva Georgiva led No. 4 Salt Lake (22-1, 7-1 Scenic West) with 15 points.