MOSCOW ? The University of Idaho women's basketball team overcame a sluggish start on Sunday to put together one of its best shooting performances of the season in a 66-50 win over Hawai'i that gave the Vandals their first-ever win over the Rainbow Wahine.

The Vandals are now 8-10 overall and 5-2 in the Western Athletic Conference, while Hawai'i slips to 6-15 overall and 1-7 in the WAC. Idaho's third-place standing is its highest ever in the WAC after seven games and its five wins are tied for the team's most ever in a WAC season.

Idaho shot a season-best 17-of-18 (.944) from the charity stripe and a season-best 11-of-23 (.478) from beyond the 3-point arc for the game. The team's free-throw total is the best for Idaho since an 11-of-11 performance against Long Beach State on Feb. 26, 2005 and is the best in the WAC this season for a team making more than four free throws.

“I think our balance was great today ? everybody stepped up and made shots,” Idaho head coach Jon Newlee said. “We passed the ball well and moved the ball well. Everybody just did their part. I love seeing four people in double-figures ? I'd love to see six.”

Junior point guard Charlotte Otero tied her career high and hit a season high of 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Rachele Kloke was next on the list, as she knocked down 3-of-4 from 3-point land and finished with 13 points, two assists and three steals. Sophomore Alana Curtis never left the court and finished one point off career-high pace, as she hit a season-high 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting with one assist. Freshman Shaena Kuehu added 11 points and nabbed six boards, as well as three assists and a career-high-tying two steals.

“When Derisa (Taleni), one of our leading scorers, gets in foul trouble, we all need to step up and that's exactly what we did,” Curtis said. “If we can do that from here on out and be just as balanced, there aren't very many teams who can stop us.”

Sophomore Yinka Olorunnife had a quiet day offensively, as she scored just seven points and saw her consecutive double-digit scoring streak end at seven games. Olorunnife, the WAC's leading rebounder, did manage to grab 11 boards to give her double-digit rebounds for the fourth-consecutive game. She also snatched a career-high five steals.

The taller Hawai'i team led the scoring in paint points by a 24-12 margin, but the Vandals proved more opportunistic, as they had 30 points off turnovers, compared to just 12 for the Wahine. The Vandals also held a huge advantage in free-throw points, as Hawai'i only managed five attempts and converted three.

For the day, Hawai'i was 22-of-54 from the field, but just 3-of-9 from the 3-point line and 3-of-5 from the free-throw line. UH entered the game averaging 4.1 made 3-pointers and 12.8 made free throws per game.

“They usually do a pretty good job of penetrating and drawing fouls and we really felt like, to be successful defensively, we needed to keep them off the foul line and keep their (3-point) attempts limited and I thought we did both those things pretty well,” Newlee said.

Hawai'i made the first three baskets of the game and went up 6-0 at the 17:55 mark, but Idaho responded with an 8-2 run to tie the game at the 15:32 mark. After a quick five points from UH made the score 13-9, Idaho responded with back-to-back 3-pointers by Kloke and Otero to take a 15-13 lead that the Vandals would not relinquish. Idaho outscored Hawai'i 18-13 over the final eight minutes of the half, during which the Vandals were 10-of-10 from the free-throw line, and went into the break leading 33-26.

The Rainbow Wahine started the second half with an 8-2 run to get within one point at 35-34, but the Vandals responded to the challenge with eight unanswered points to bring the lead to nine at 43-34 with 13:02 remaining. A three-ball by Curtis just two minutes later gave Idaho a double-digit lead at 46-36, then three-straight 3-pointers by Derisa Taleni helped extend the lead to 16 with 3:31 remaining.

With the momentum of winning five of the team's last six games, Idaho will now hit the road for a tough trip. The Vandals will first head to Ruston, La., to take on Louisiana Tech on Friday, then will head to New Mexico State on Sunday. Six of the team's final nine games will be on the road.