SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. ? The University of Idaho women's basketball team fell behind on a late first-half run and rallied several times to cut down the lead, but Cal Poly's depth proved too much in the end and the Mustangs took a 77-60 win over the Vandals.
Idaho (1-4) was playing its first game of the Courtyard by Marriot San Luis Obispo Holiday Beach Classic, while Cal Poly (4-2) was playing in its second game after beating UMKC on Friday.
“We really did not execute our offense very well today,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “We had a lot of mental mistakes that cost us.”
Junior Derisa Taleni led Idaho in scoring for the fourth time this season with 16 points on five-of-11 shooting with five rebounds, two blocks and one assist, while sophomore Yinka Olorunnife came up one rebound short of a double-double for the second game in a row and finished with 15 points, nine boards, three steals and a career-high-tying three blocks.
“Derisa really carried us early on,” Newlee said. “Then Yinka kind of carried us later in the game in the second half.”
Junior point guard Charlotte Otero reached 200 career assists, as she dished three in the game. She now has 201 career assists and needs 52 more to move into Idaho's all-time top 10 in the category. Otero, the Western Athletic Conference leader in minutes played, went the full 40 minutes in the game for the fourth time in five games this season.
“The thing is, she plays that hard in practice, too,” Newlee said. “She's not taking it easy during the week. She's given me 100 percent since I took this job. From the individual drills in the spring up to today, she's given me all she has and if she continues to do that, she's going to continue to play all those minutes, because we need her out there.”
Idaho put together its best free-throw output of the season, as the Vandals shot a season-high .828 from the line and made 24 of 29 shots. Olorunnife led the way as she was a career-best nine-of-10, while both Taleni and sophomore Rachele Kloke were four-for-four from the stripe. Idaho was just 16-of-44 from the field for the game, while Cal Poly shot 29-of-59 for a .492 clip.
“We've got an athletic team that can attack the rim and we've got to keep the mindset that when we go hard, we've got to make teams pay when they foul us,” Newlee said. “That was definitely a bright spot for us today.”
Turnovers kept Idaho from closing the gap and helped the Mustangs extend it. Cal Poly turned 19 Idaho turnovers into 22 points, while the Vandals turned 13 Cal Poly turnovers into 11 points. The Mustangs also finished the game with 21 assists as a team, while Idaho had just five.
“Turnovers really hurt us,” Newlee said. “They're a team that really lives off turnovers. I was disappointed that we had so many turnovers on the perimeter that led to easy points for them in the first half.”
A lack of depth also hurt Idaho in the game, as Shaena-Lyn Kuehu's five points were the only non-starter points the Vandals managed. On the flip-side, Cal Poly played 15 people in the game and the team's 10 non-starters scored 36 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
“It's unbelievable,” Newlee said. “They sub like it's a hockey game. Obviously, they've got a lot of depth and they're not afraid to use it and I'm sure that going in, a key for them was just to wear us down physically.”
The game was a tight affair for the first 10 minutes, but after two Kloke free throws pulled Idaho within one at 20-19, the Mustangs went on a 10-0 run over the next four minutes. The Vandals battled back to within three at 30-27 with three minutes remaining, but Cal Poly used another 10-0 run to extend to a halftime lead of 40-27.
Idaho got the lead down to seven with 6:47 remaining in the game, but the Vandals “just ran out of gas,” according to Newlee, and the Mustangs outscored them by 11 points over the final six minutes of the game.
Idaho will face Cal State Bakersfield on Sunday at 2 p.m. (PST). The Roadrunners enter the game with a 3-1 record after beating UMKC 78-61 earlier Saturday. It will be the first-ever meeting between the ?Runners and the Vandals.
