LUBBOCK, Texas ? Derisa Taleni and Yinka Olorunnife scored 12 each, but the Texas Tech Lady Raiders were too much for the Idaho women's basketball team in the season opener, as Tech won by a 90-55 score.
Idaho (0-1) shot .349 from the field on 22-of-63 shooting, while Texas Tech (1-0) was 33-of-62 from the field for a .532 clip. The Lady Raiders, who entered the game with a distinct height advantage, also held a 43-33 rebounding edge.
Idaho head coach Jon Newlee officially led the Vandal women onto the court for the first time and said that he was happy with the way the team ran the offense and created looks but that the team needs to shoot better overall.
“Our offensive execution to get to the shot was pretty good for a while there when we just stayed within ourselves and stayed within the system,” Newlee said. “As a team, we just didn't shoot well tonight. Against a great team like Texas Tech, you've just got to make your shots.”
Olorunnife, a sophomore, led the team with 12 points and nine boards, with two steals and one block, while Taleni, a junior, also scored 12 and added three rebounds, two steals and one assist in 37 minutes.
Junior Charlotte Otero and freshman Shaena Kuehu added nine points each, with Kuehu dishing four assists and Otero giving three.
Sophomore Alana Curtis scored seven points on three-of-six shooting with two assists, two rebounds and a steal in 28 minutes, while fellow second-year player Rachele Kloke had four points, one assist, one block and a career-high seven rebounds.
The Vandals managed to hang tight and keep things interesting early on. Taleni nailed 3-pointer at the 8:11 mark to bring Idaho within six at 25-19, but the Raiders ended the half on a 20-8 run and went into the half up 45-27.
“I thought we played pretty well for 15 minutes of the first half,” Newlee said. “There were five minutes where we had defensive communication breakdowns. The lead went from 10 to 20 in the blink of an eye because of breakdowns and that was disappointing to me because I thought we were playing well.”
The second half stats were nearly identical to the first half, as Idaho shot .333 (11-of-33) and Tech shot .516 (16-of-31) and Tech scored 45 points to Idaho's 28.
While the Lady Raiders out-rebounded Idaho by 10 and managed to get a lot of inside looks due in part to their height advantage, Newlee said that he was pleased with the way Idaho's post players stayed tough down low.
“Nobody quit, nobody put their heads down and nobody got intimidated by their size,” Newlee said. “It would have been easy for them to do that, but they didn't. They kept their composure and they kept battling.”
The Vandals will have a quick turnaround for the week, as they play host to Montana on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (PST) at Memorial Gym, then head to Fort Collins, Colo., next Saturday to take on Colorado State at 1 p.m. (PST).
