ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The University of Idaho women's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 69-68 loss to Oklahoma State in the first-round of the New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Vandals (1-1) will move on to play the loser of the Marist/New Mexico contest Saturday at 6 p.m. Oklahoma State (1-1) will meet the winner in the championship game.
"It's disappointing to lose this game because we could have just as easily won as lost," Idaho head coach Mike Divilbiss said. "We let our offense dictate what we were doing on defense and when the shots weren't going in we let our defense break down. When the baskets started falling, we started to defend and that is backwards."
Idaho began the game ice cold, missing its first five shots and falling behind 9-0. Karly Felton got the Vandals on the scoreboard at the 16:23 mark with back-to-back baskets and Idaho scored six unanswered points to make the score 9-6 with 15:05 remaining in the first half. The teams went back-and-forth until Oklahoma State used a 7-0 run to go ahead 18-8 with 9:40 remaining and were again up 10 at 21-11 with 7:15 remaining in the first half. Four minutes later OSU was again up 10 at 30-20 with 3:08 remaining, but the Vandals began to chip away and outscored the Cowgirls 12-3 over the final three minutes to trail 33-32 at the half.
Idaho took its first lead of the game in the early minutes of the second half on Emily Faurholt's lay in, making the score 34-33. The basket was the first of the game for Faurholt. Oklahoma State quickly grabbed the lead back on its next possession and held it until Idaho tied the score 46-46 with 14:20 remaining. The next six minutes saw three lead changes, the final when MacKenzie Flynn made a lay in to put Idaho up 53-52 with 8:16 remaining. The Vandals stretched their lead to as many as six points at 63-57 with 6:03 remaining and continued to hold the advantage until Oklahoma State put themselves ahead for good with the final basket of the game coming with 1:22 remaining. Emily Halliday missed a go-ahead 3-point shot with 29 seconds remaining and Idaho fouled after a defensive rebound by OSU. After the Cowgirls missed the front end of a one-and-one situation, Idaho called timeout to set up a play for Leilani Mitchell with eight seconds remaining. The Oklahoma State players collapsed on Mitchell as she got the ball and she dished to Jordyn Bowen, whose 3-pointer at the buzzer went in-and-out.
"We got some great looks in this game, but the ball just didn't go in the hole. I am very pleased with the way the two freshmen (Flynn and Bowen) stepped up in the game and we just need to make sure everyone can step up and help us out on a consistent basis," Divilbiss said.
The Vandals attempted 40 3-point shots in the game, setting a Western Athletic Conference and Idaho school record.
"(Oklahoma State) did everything they could to take away (Mitchell and Faurholt) and made our other players beat them," Divilbiss said. "They left people unguarded with wide-open shots and we just took what they gave us. We really have to respect what they did and we need to shoot the ball well against good teams if we want to beat them. We weren't used to what we were seeing in the beginning, but we adjusted later in the game and played much better in the second half. I would have liked to see us shot the ball better, but it was good for us for other players to be forced to step up and take some shots."
The Vandals had four players score in double-figures, led by Mitchell with 16 points. Bowen finished with 15 points, Faurholt scored 12 points, and Flynn chipped in 10 points. Mitchell also finished with five assists and four steals. Faurholt, who didn't manage a shot until the second half, was 5-of-5 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Oklahoma State was lead by Whitney Pegram, who scored 34, grabbed 12 rebounds, and had five blocks. OSU finished the game shooting 29-of-48 (.604) from the floor.
"We will learn from this game and grow and I think we can take a lot of positives from this game," Divilbiss said. "We now have to focus on tomorrow because we will have our hands full no matter who we play."
