KENNEWICK, Wash. - The return to the Tri-Cities area for six Idaho women's basketball team members was spoiled by a hot-shooting Eastern Washington University team as the Vandals fell to the Eagles 64-59.
A crowd of 2,636, the sixth largest in Idaho women's basketball history, was on hand at the Three Rivers Coliseum as Eastern Washington (2-3) connected on 25-of-53 (.472) shots from the floor, including 10-of-21 (.476) from the 3-point line while holding Idaho (3-3) to a season-low 14-of-46 (.304) from the floor.
"This game was all about effort and, aside from a couple of players, we did not get the effort we need out of this team in order to be successful," Idaho head coach Mike Divilbiss said. "We have to give Eastern a lot of credit because they plain outplayed us in this game."
Idaho took control early, shooting out to a 15-8 lead three-and-a-half minutes into the game. Eastern fought back to tie the score at 21-21 with 7:16 remaining and proceeded to outscore the Vandals 13-6 through the remainder of the half to take a 34-27 lead at halftime.
The Eagles started the second half with the momentum and pushed their lead to nine points of two separate occasions; the last at 41-32 with 13:33 remaining. Idaho began to chip away at Eastern over the next seven minutes and eventually took a 48-47 lead with 6:07 remaining. With 5:03 remaining and Idaho clutching a four-point lead, the Vandals committed six turnovers on its next nine possessions and Eastern was able to regain the advantage at 59-56 with 1:45 remaining thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Stephanie Ulmer. The Eagles would not relinquish the lead and outscored the Vandals 13-6 in the final five minutes of the game.
"The result of this game was exactly what we deserved," Divilbiss said. "It would have been a sad commentary had we won the game after the way we performed at the end."
Idaho was hampered by an 11-minute stretch without scoring a basket. The drought began following a Lauren Frazee 3-pointer with 9:39 remaining in the first half and lasted until Heather Thoelke made a lay-in at the 17:39 mark in the second half. Idaho missed nine shots, committed six turnovers, and shot 7-of-11 from the free throw line during the stretch.
Leilani Mitchell led the Vandals with 17 points, coming mostly on a 10-of-11 performance from the free-throw line. She also added seven steals. Emily Faurholt was close behind with 16 points despite not scoring a point in the final 13-minutes of the game. She also grabbed a season-high nine rebounds. Thoelke was the other Vandal in double-figures, finishing the game with 10 points and six rebounds. Frazee also finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
Ulmer led all scorers with 18 points thanks to 5-of-7 shooting from the three-point line.
The Vandals will now return to Moscow, Idaho, where they will take on the Montana Grizzlies Wednesday (Dec. 8) at 7 p.m. in the Cowan Spectrum.
