MOSCOW - Four Idaho women scored in double-digits, but Portland State (8-1) shot nearly 50 percent from the floor to send the Vandals (0-9) to their ninth straight loss by an 81-54 margin.
“I'm really proud of our kids. I thought we played really well,” Idaho head coach Mike Divilbiss said. “I don't think the score was indicative of how our kids are playing.”
Lindsey Koppen put in a season-high 14 points with four-of-seven shooting beyond the arc with an assist, a block, a steal and three rebounds. Yinka Olorunnife added 12 points, eight rebounds, including six offensive, and four steals, while Katie Madison put up 12 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
Sara Dennehy had her best game of the year, as she put up a season-high 11 points with a rebound, three assists and two blocks. Dennehy, who was Idaho's second-leading scorer last season, has been slowed early in the season by a foot injury that kept her out of most of the fall practices at the beginning of the season.
“We had a lot of contributions from people. It was nice to see Sara getting back into her own,” Divilbiss said. “She just hadn't had enough practices under her belt and she's just starting to get back into it, but you could see it in practice this week.
Despite the outcome, Divilbiss said he was encouraged by what he saw out of the young Vandal team this evening.
“I thought we played much better basketball tonight,” Divilbiss said. “We executed really well, we stuck to the game plan really well, we had the same number of turnovers that they did and I think we got as good of looks as they did, maybe even better, and they just didn't go into the basket.
“Portland State is a really good basketball team. Right now, I think they're probably one of the best teams in the West, outside of a few Pac-10 teams.”
The Vikings showed their clout early in the first half as they rode a 9-2 run five minutes into the game and put the Vandals into a hole, then extended their lead on lights-out shooting for the remainder of the first half. As a team, PSU was 15-of-29 (.517) from the floor in the first half to put them ahead 41-27 at the break.
Idaho was able to avoid the long scoring droughts and big runs that had plagued them in their first eight contests, but the Vikings didn't cool off at all during the half and came out firing and extended the lead to as many as 25 at the 11:35 mark. Down big, the Vandal women showed some of the mental toughness that Divilbiss had asked for as they forced four straight turnovers and ran off 10 unanswered points to trim the lead down to 46-61, but it was as close as they would get.
For the first time this season, the Vandals had more points off turnovers than their opponent, as they outscored PSU 16-15 in the category and tied the Vikings with 18 turnovers apiece. Both teams also had 24 points in the paint for the game.
Divilbiss likened the team's progress to a young child learning to read, saying that the going is slow and mistake-prone at first, but also improves with every try. He said that he can see that the younger players are spending less time on the court thinking and more time just playing.
“I think that as there is less and less thinking time, the ball will go into the basket more and more,” Divilbiss said. “We're going to stand by these kids and be really positive with them and also give them some fire when they need it.
“We really see the potential in them and if you've watched us play, I think you can tell that we've gotten better and you can tell that there's a lot of potential in us right now.”
Portland State finished the game with a combined .491 shooting percentage from the field and hit 20-of-26 free throw tries. Kelsey Kahle had a great game for the Vikings, as she finished the game 11-of-15 from the floor and 10-of-12 from the free throw line for 32 points, which is a tie for the fifth-best all-time individual point total on an Idaho home court. Delaney Conway also added 18 points.
The Vandals were .323 from the floor for the game, hitting 21-of-65 shots, including five-of-18 from three-point range. As a team, the Vandals still had a hard time getting to the free throw line, as they only created 11 free throw opportunities and converted seven.
Next up for Idaho is a road trip to Big Sky powerhouse Montana (5-3), which has won four of its last five games. The game will be on Saturday, Dec. 15 at Missoula, Mont., with a 6 p.m. Pacific start time.
