SEATTLE ? A mistake-prone first half put the Idaho women in a big hole Friday at Washington (2-4), and not even a strong second half could get the Vandals (0-4) out as they dropped their fourth straight game, 73-57 in the opening round of the Husky Classic.
Yinka Olorunnife had 12 points and six rebounds, while Katie Schlotthauer had a career-high 12 points off the bench to lead Idaho, but an 11-turnover, 14-foul first half put the Vandals into a hole that was too big to crawl out of in the second.
“In the first half we didn't display a lot of trust for each other or trust for the system,” Idaho coach Mike Divilbiss said. “We cracked too easily and didn't stay with our stuff.”
After trailing 42-23 at halftime, the Vandal women started the second half slowly and trailed by as many as 23, but a Schlotthauer jumper at the 11:51 mark keyed a 15-4 Idaho run that brought the score to 59-47 and a 12-point deficit with 6:17 to go.
Divilbiss said the difference between the halves wasn't anything flashy or dramatic, it was just simple basketball.
“There was no pep talk or anything like that,” Divilbiss said. “The bottom line is that if you do what you practice and you believe in it, you're going to be successful. In the second half we bought into the system and we did the things that we do in practice.
“We showed a lot of fight and didn't give up. We're growing and improving and I think that anyone who knows anything about basketball has seen that we have improved and that we're continuing to improve.”
Unfortunately for Idaho, the spark that gave them their big run created a spark in the Washington women, who answered with a 10-0 run of their own to extend the lead to 69-47 and put the game out of reach with 3:37 remaining.
The key stat of the game? Washington made 16-of-19 free throws in the first half, while Idaho didn't even make it to the line in the first 20 minutes. Washington ended up outscoring Idaho 20-5 from the free throw line.
“We just didn't adjust,” Divilbiss said. “The officials were very consistent the whole time that you couldn't touch the dribbler and we kept putting our hands on the dribbler.”
After keeping the rebounding battle close in each of their first three games, the Vandals were outrebounded by a 46-29 margin. Washington had 18 second-chance points on the day, compared to Idaho's six. A tough shooting day didn't help things for Idaho either, as the team was just 23-62 from the field for the day.
One bright spot for the Vandals was that they had fewer turnovers than their opponent for the first time this year. Idaho forced Washington into 21 turnovers while committing 17 of their own. Idaho had just six turnovers in the second half, while the Huskies had 11.
Sophomore post Katie Madison was held to her lowest scoring output of her career, as she only managed six points on five shots in just 20 minutes of play. After getting three quick fouls, she spent much of the first half on the bench and spent the entire game in foul trouble.
“She was just trying to do a little too much,” Divilbiss said.
Washington was paced by Katelan Redmon and Kali Bennett, who each had 18 points. Bennett also grabbed 11 boards. The Huskies improved to 21-0 all-time in Husky Classic first-round games.
After having trouble spreading around the scoring against North Dakota State, this time Idaho had nine out of 12 players score. Senior Hannah Wells had her best game of the season as she contributed 10 points, two steals, a rebound and an assist. Freshman Therese Riedel had five rebounds and a pair of blocks. Freshman Alana Curtis, who started the game at the point, had seven points, two steals and three assists with just four turnovers.
With the loss, Idaho moves to the consolation game of the tournament, where the team will face Weber State (1-3), which lost to Arkansas State 57-44 earlier in the day. That game will tip off at 12 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday.
