HONOLULU, Hawai`i - The road struggles continued for the University of Idaho women's basketball team as the Vandals fell 71-62 to Hawai`i in their final conference game away from Moscow.
Idaho (8-16, 4-9), which managed just one win on the road during the conference season, falls into a tie for eighth place in the Western Athletic Conference standings with its third consecutive loss. Hawai`i (15-8, 6-6) moves into a tie for third with the win.
"We played really well for 30 minutes," Idaho head coach Mike Divilbiss said. "Hawai`i showed great toughness and competitiveness being down by 11 and really willed themselves back into the game. We had a stretch of about 10 minutes where we faltered a little bit, but I was proud of our players for not quitting. It's disappointing to lose this game because we had them on the ropes, but that is two games in a row now where we played really hard. We just need to play smarter at times."
The teams got locked in a back-and-forth battle to begin the game as the teams saw four ties and four lead changes in the first nine minutes. Hawai`i held a 16-15 advantage at the 11:25 mark, but the Vandals hit three 3-pointers in a 9-2 run to build a 24-18 advantage at the 8:50 mark and grab the final lead change of the half. Hawai`i fought back to tie the game at 27-27 with 5:32 remaining, but Idaho closed the half on a 12-4 run to build a 39-31 lead heading into the locker room.
Idaho used the early minutes of the second half to build its biggest lead of the game at 43-32 with 19:12 remaining, but at that point Hawai`i used a 12-0 run to grab a 44-43 advantage. The Vandals were held scoreless for a span of 6:25, missing six shots and turning the ball over four times. Leilani Mitchell gave Idaho the lead back with two free throws, but Hawai`i scored the next eight points to build a 52-45 lead with 10:07 remaining. Emily Faurholt's basket at the 9:44 mark broke Idaho's span of 9:28 without a field goal. The Vandals would later get as close as four points at 56-52 at the 6:43 remaining, but the Rainbow Wahine used an 8-1 run to grab a double-digit advantage at 64-53 with 4:27 remaining. Idaho would only get as close as six points at 66-60 before the final score of 71-62.
The weariness of playing three road games in seven days was evident as the Vandals were outscored 40-23 in the second half. Idaho's shooting percentage dropped from 44.4 percent (16-of-26) in the first half to 25.0 percent (6-of-24) in the second half and the Vandals were out-rebounded 26-10 in the final 20 minutes, giving up 10 offensive rebounds.
"I don't like to say fatigue was a factor because I don't want to make excuses or give our players an out, but we have to be realistic. We are thin and young and that is the bottom line. Because of injuries we are only able to play six players with any regularity which means we are not as deep as we need to be to play three games on the road in seven days. We have to battle through it and I am proud of the players on the floor because they are giving every ounce of effort they have," Divilbiss said.
Faurholt led all scorers with 20 points while Jessica Summers scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Mitchell finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and six steals.
The Vandals return home for their final three games of the conference season beginning with New Mexico State Saturday at 7 p.m. That game will be played at Memorial Gym.
