MOSCOW, Idaho - The University of Idaho women's basketball team escaped Memorial Gym with a 62-59 victory over Utah Valley State College, Friday.
Trailing by two in the final 30-seconds of the game, Leilani Mitchell hit a three-pointer with 25-seconds remaining to put the Vandals (1-0) up 60-59. Utah Valley State (0-1) was called for a traveling violation on its next possession and Heather Thoelke sank two free throws with 10-seconds remaining to give Idaho the win in its first game of the season.
"We have to give Utah Valley a lot of credit, they played very well," Vandal head coach Mike Divilbiss said. "They had a good plan and stuck to it. They hoped we weren't going to make any perimeter shots and we didn't. Our players showed a lot of heart in this game and stepped up and played very well when we needed them to."
Idaho was hampered by 31-percent shooting in the game and made just 15 field goals. The Vandals saving grace came from the free throw line, where they shot 24-of-29 (.828), and from 28 Utah Valley turnovers.
"This was a typical first game for any team. We needed to get some cobwebs out, but we made it harder on ourselves than it had to be. We got frustrated offensively because they were very physical and we lost our fire on the defensive end. Our defense is our heart and we can't lose our edge on that end of the floor no matter what is happening on the offensive end. If we lose our heart, we are in trouble no matter who we are playing," Divilbiss said.
Emily Faurholt led all scorers with 23 points - 13 from the free throw line - and led the Vandals with six rebounds. Heather Thoelke added 17 points and five rebounds and Leilani Mitchell was the only other Vandal in double-figures with 15 points, six steals and four assists.
"Those three players are our heart and soul," Divilbiss said. "They are great players and great players step up and make plays that need to be made."
Utah Valley State jumped to an 11-5 lead to begin the game, but the Vandals were able to put together a 19-3 run to take a 24-14 lead with 2:24 remaining in the first half. The teams remained even for the remainder of the half and Idaho headed to the locker room with a 30-20 lead at halftime.
Utah Valley State surged after the break, hitting 10 of its first 11 shots in the second half on the way to a 20-4 run to begin the half. The Vandals trailed 34-40 with just under 13-minutes remaining in the game and the remainder of the contest would see seven lead changes and five ties before the Vandals were able to pull out the victory in the final 30-seconds.
"We defended well in the first half, but came out in the second half and just didn't play. It was the same thing that happened in the exhibition game. We started off very slowly and let Utah Valley creep back into the game. We settled for the perimeter shot too quickly at times and once we started moving the ball and getting some action away from the ball then we started making some shots," Divilbiss said.
After winning its opening game for the second straight season, Idaho will now move on to play Boise State, Sunday. The game will begin at 1 p.m. and will be played in the Cowan Spectrum.
