Idaho women surge past ISU, advance to 3rd NCAA tournament in 4 years
RENO, Nev. – This wasn’t about payback, though that felt good too.
The Big Sky Conference women’s title Idaho earned on Saturday was all about the Vandal seniors, who’ve been working for a year to get back to the NCAA tournament.
“Three out of four feels pretty good,” Idaho senior Ali Forde said after the third-seeded Vandals rallied past Idaho State, 67-55, to earn a prize that once seemed like a birthright.
Forde and the other seniors celebrated two Western Athletic Conference titles as underclassmen, but used last year’s 14-15 record for motivation. After grinding it out in the weight room last year, they ground out three wins this week in similar fashion.
The award doubled as payback against an ISU team that beat them by 21 points only eight days earlier.
“We’re better than we played in Pocatello,” said Newlee, whose team will learn its postseason fate on Monday night.
Newlee says the Vandals (24-9) merit better than a 15 seed and a date next weekend at sixth-ranked Oregon State – the pairing that’s most prevalent on the internet.
“I think we deserve at least a 13,” Newlee said. “We’ve played well this year, and this league is very good.”
Good enough, certainly, to force the Vandals to overcome a lackluster first half in all three games at the Reno Events Center.
But as they did against Weber State and Eastern Washington, the Vandals overcame a halftime deficit by playing lockdown defense while their shooters began to find the range in the second half.
“The seniors, they’ve been through it, they know what it takes, and then we’ve got some freshmen with ice water in their veins,” Newlee said as he gestured toward tournament MVP Mikayla Ferenz.
As she did all week, Ferenz made big shots as Idaho ralled out of a 3-point halftime hole. The freshman from Walla Walla was 7-for-11 from the field and made four 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 18 points.
At the other end of the court, Idaho held ISU to 14 percent shooting while taking a 51-36 lead with four minutes left. By then, the Vandals were ready to celebrate.
Wearing a basketball net at the postgame press conference, Newlee said, “This never gets old, not even the ice-cold Gatorade bath.”
An hour earlier, Newlee was sweating as an early 10-2 lead turned into a 26-23 ISU advantage.
Idaho State (18-15) came into the game as the hottest team in the tournament, earning upset wins over top-seeded Montana State (54-52) and No. 4 North Dakota (69-54).
The Bengals had done it with physical play that paid off in the first 20 minutes. The halftime stat sheet was an eye-opener: Idaho was shooting 50 percent from 3-point range but just 4 for 21 inside the arc.
And as they did in Pocatello, the Bengals dominated on the boards in the first half, 25-19.
“We knew it was going to be a grind-it-out-style game,” said Newlee, who took the blame for a second-quarter lull.
Forde earned a spot on the all-tournament team by raising her game to higher level in the third quarter: she had four rebounds in the first half but finished with 13. Her free throw two minutes into the third quarter gave the Vandals the lead for good, 31-28.
Recalling her recruiting visit four years ago, Forde said turned to Newlee and said, “Coach told us that we were going to win championships, and that’s what we came to do.”
2016 Big Sky All-tournament team
MVP: Mikayla Ferenz, Idaho
Ali Forde, Idaho
Hayley Hodgins, EWU
Delaney Hodgins, EWU
Anna Policicchio, Idaho State
Brooke Blair, Idaho State