MOSCOW ? After a tight first half between Idaho and Hawai'i, the Rainbow Wahine jumped out in the second, keyed by solid deep shooting to take down the Vandals by a score of 67-54 Thursday night at the Cowan Spectrum.
Idaho drops to 2-24 on the season and 1-13 in the Western Athletic Conference, while Hawai'i moves up to 11-15 and 5-8 in the WAC.
Hawai'i's Megan Tinnin scored a career-high 25 points, 20 of which came in the second half, on eight-of-12 shooting to give the Rainbow Wahine a big boost and the edge they needed for the win. She was also six-of-nine from long range.
“I thought we played well enough defensively and in rebounding to win the game,” Idaho head coach Mike Divilbiss said. “Tinnin got really hot, but we did a really good job on the rest of the kids.
“Our defensive efficiency rating is good enough for us to win just about every night, we just have to put the ball in the hole.”
Idaho's Katie Madison put up her sixth 20-point game of the season in a 20-point, eight-rebound effort to lead the Vandals. The story of the game for Idaho yet again was poor shooting, as the team managed just 21.4 percent from the field in the first and 33.9 percent for the game. Idaho was also just two-of-12 from beyond the arc.
“Katie did a good job of staying aggressive and the girls did a good job of getting her the ball,” Divilbiss said. “It was a team effort trying to keep (UH's Tanya Smith) off the boards, but I think Katie did a really nice job.
“We did a much better job rebounding than we did over there, but we just didn't make baskets.”
After a sloppy first half that featured 20 more turnovers?33?than made field goals?13?it didn't seem like either team wanted to take control and they went into the locker rooms at the half tied 21-21. The second half started to take the same shape as the first, with the teams trading missed shots and turnovers with a small scattering of points over the first five minutes.
With the score tied 30-30 at the 14:34 mark, Tinnin nailed a three-pointer to start an 8-0 run by Hawai'i that gave the Wahine the boost they needed to take over. Tinnin went six-of-nine in the second, including five-of-seven from three-point land and scored 20 of UH's 46 second-half points to help the Wahine run away with the victory.
The Vandals will be back in action on Saturday in their final home contest of the season as they host San Jose State at 7 p.m. at the Cowan Spectrum. It will be the final career game for four Vandals, as seniors Sara Dennehy, Lindsey Koppen and Hannah Wells, along with redshirt junior Katie Schlotthauer, will be graduating and moving on.
