RENO, Nev. ? The University of Idaho women's basketball team is playing the youngest lineup in the Western Athletic Conference and the second-youngest in the NCAA. The Vandals played like it Saturday in a 68-48 loss at Nevada.
Idaho slips to 2-22 overall and 1-11 in WAC play, while the Wolf Pack climbs up to 18-7 overall and 9-3 in the WAC.
The young Vandals showed resiliency and toughness in spurts throughout the game, but it was costly turnovers that got Idaho into trouble early and prevented the team from mounting any sort of comeback.
Idaho had 30 turnovers in the game, which Nevada converted into 34 points?half their game total?while the Vandals forced just 14 turnovers and only turned those into four points.
“We've played every game pretty well in the WAC defensively except for the Louisiana Tech game, but we've just got to get better offensively, do a better job protecting the ball and make the open shots,” Idaho head coach Mike Divilbiss said.
While he wasn't happy with the result, Divilbiss said he was still positive coming out of it because of how the team has responded to the tough road trip.
“Fresno State and Nevada are two of the top three teams in the conference and Boise State next Thursday is the other top-three team we'll face on the road,” Divilbiss said. “I was a little worried about this road trip and us losing our spirit, but we really haven't.
“I think the kids feel better about their effort tonight and they feel like they grew and got better and that's what we want them to do. Our future is bright if we keep growing like we did tonight.”
Protecting the ball and making the shots were two things that Idaho was unable to do over the first 10 minutes of the game, as the team managed just two points on a pair of free throws and turned the ball over 12 times before even making its first field goal at the 9:50 mark. By that time, Nevada had already built up a 16-4 lead and had it up as high as 23-7 with 5:16 remaining in the first.
Carli Bakondy had a solid outing for the Vandals, as she went four-of-eight from the field, including two-of-two from beyond the arc, to put up 11 points and grab three steals in 29 minutes of play. Katie Madison led Idaho with 14 points to go along with seven boards. Yinka Olorunnife tied a career-high with 14 rebounds with six points before fouling out late.
Charlotte Otero had a season-best five assists in 15 minutes of play to go along with four points and a pair of steals. Divilbiss said he was proud of the way she stepped up to help the team.
“Nevada had a lot of pressure and Charlotte really helped us,” Divilbiss said. “There are going to be some nights when she's great for us and there are some games where the matchups really put her at a disadvantage, but she's handled it really well coming off the bench to help us. When her team needed her to step up and help out today, she did that.”
With things looking bleak early on for the third straight game, the Vandal squad did something it hadn't done in its past two games?it fought back. Idaho held Nevada without a field goal over the final 6:22 of the first half and went on a 10-3 run over the remainder of the half, fueled by seven points from Bakondy, to cut it to 25-17 at the half.
Nevada came out in the second half and scored six straight, but the Vandals answered right back with an 8-0 run of their own to cut it to 31-25 with 16:38 remaining. The teams exchanged short runs over the rest of the half as Idaho would close the gap a little, then Nevada would run it back out. The Wolf Pack got the better of the action later on as Vandals started fouling out and extended its lead to 20 by the end of the contest.
Idaho will have a light week next week as they have just one game against rival Boise State at Boise on Thursday.
