Beyonce Bea scores 27 points to lead Idaho women past Eastern Washington

MOSCOW, Idaho – Down two starters and still figuring out how to compensate, the Eastern Washington women’s basketball team started poorly on offense Saturday – and the Idaho Vandals took advantage.

Big Sky leading scorer Beyonce Bea finished with 27 points, Tiana Johnson added 18 and the Vandals avenged an earlier loss to the Eagles with a decisive 88-64 victory at ICCU Arena .

“We just weren’t trying to force shots and it was working to get it inside to draw fouls,” Bea said, “so we just kept doing that.”

It was a straightforward and effective formula for the Vandals (10-14 overall), who have surged to a 6-7 Big Sky record with wins in four of their past five games.

“We didn’t have an answer for Beyonce, especially in the first half,” Eagles coach Joddie Gleason said. “I feel like she got too comfortable too many times in the first quarter.”

Bea finished 8 of 11 from the field and made 11 of 11 free-throw attempts. This was the eighth game this year in which she has scored at least 27 points.

The Vandals, once mired toward the bottom of the Big Sky standings, now find themselves in the middle of it with five conference games to go until the postseason tournament.

Idaho coach Jon Newlee noted that four freshmen are playing significant minutes. Sometimes that comes with some growing pains, which he said were evident during the team’s six-game losing streak in January, which included a 74-59 loss to the Eagles in Cheney.

“Earlier in that streak, we were just getting some bad play from those guys, quite honestly,” Newlee said. “But they’re figuring it out and making better decisions with the ball, and from a defensive standpoint (they are) following the plan.”

Rosa Smith, one of those freshmen, finished with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor. Against the Eagles the veterans – seniors Bea and Johnson, plus junior Sydney Gandy, who had eight points – did what they needed to do as well.

Johnson made 4 of 7 3-pointers, part of the Vandals’ 11-of-23 day .

The Eagles, playing without leading scorer Jaydia Martin and leading rebounder Jacinta Buckley, could not keep up. They opened the game 6 of 24 from the field and at halftime trailed 41-28.

EWU sophomore Jaleesa Lawrence had one of her best offensive games of the season, finishing with 21 points – two shy of her season high – on 7-of-13 shooting overall, 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Eagles senior Jamie Loera scored 11 points and redshirt freshman Aaliyah Alexander added 12. But no one else had more than six points.

“I feel like we’re still figuring out our new roles that we have to establish,” Gleason said. “With Jacinta and Jaydia out, I feel that other people need to recognize that they are the ones that need to maybe take that open shot early on. They are the ones who need to get that rebound.”

Gleason did not have a timetable for the return of either Buckley or Martin.

At the start of the second half, Idaho scored the first seven points to increase its lead to 20. The Eagles stuck around with a 9-0 run and got as close as 10 points after that. But they never got the lead back to single digits, and the Vandals pushed their lead to as many as 29 .

“Today’s a really good learning experience,” Lawrence said. “When they (go on a) run, we need to get stops and answer, and we can’t make little mistakes, because they add up.”

The Eagles, who have matched their Big Sky win total from last season, dropped to 7-6 in conference play and 14-9 overall. They play at Northern Arizona on Thursday and at Northern Colorado on Saturday. UI will play the same teams on the opposite days.