MOSCOW, Idaho- The Idaho women's basketball fell short once again in a hard-fought contest, this time against the visiting Portland Pilots, 67-56, on Friday night.
Idaho (1-9) put together one of their most complete games of the season, but could not pull out the victory as Portland (6-3) pulled away down the stretch.
"I thought we played really well," Idaho head coach Jon Newlee said. "But they made the plays when they needed to, and we didn't."
Redshirt freshman Jessica Graham had a career day with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting along with three blocked shots, all career highs, as well as seven rebounds in 34 minutes. Junior Rachele Kloke also added 11 points, while freshman Natasha Helsham had a career-high nine points in her second start.
The statistics show how evenly matched the two teams were. Portland hit .403 from the field while Idaho was .339 overall. Portland won the rebounding battle 41-36, while the Vandals outscored the Pilots 11-9 at the free throw line. Idaho held a 16-14 advantage in paint points, but the Pilots outscored Idaho 15-11 off turnovers and 13-10 in second chance points.
Both teams started the game a combined 1-for-12 in the first four minutes before the shots began to fall. On the heels of back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers, Idaho took a 17-12 advantage midway through the first half.
Portland responded with an 11-2 run to put itself in the lead at 25-19 with 6:28 remaining in the first half. During the run, Portland went 5-of-9 from the field, while Idaho went 0-for-4 and turned it over twice. The Pilots ended the half leading 35-30 behind 11 points from Laiken Dollente.
Idaho came out battling in the second half and cut the Pilots' lead to one at 41-40 with 14:43 remaining, but a 3-pointer by Laiken Dollente 25 seconds later pushed the lead back to four. This would be the story of the second half for the Vandals, as every time they would make a run, Portland would hit a crucial shot to keep the margin in its favor.
"I thought we had a couple of key defensive breakdowns on their shooters," Newlee said.
Idaho got within one point on three occasions in the second half, but the Pilots responded with timely shots, and the Vandals missed 11 of their final 13 attempts from the field. UP made its free throws in the end to stretch the lead to double digits in the final seconds.
Idaho will try to rebound on the road at Montana on Sunday, December 13. The game at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula, Mont. will tip at 1 p.m. (PST).
