MOSCOW ? The Idaho women's basketball team used a hot-shooting second half to put away the visiting San Jose State Spartans and move into sole possession of second place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 64-41 win on Sunday at the Cowan Spectrum.
Idaho (11-11, 8-3 WAC) shot 12-of-21 (.571) in the second half after scoring just 27 first-half points to pull away from San Jose State (2-23, 1-11 WAC), which shot 9-of-29 (.310) in the second period.
The Vandals finished the day with a season-high .500 total field goal percentage on 21-of-42 shooting, including 8-of-19 from beyond the 3-point arc. Idaho held San Jose State to just .333 from the field on 17-of-51 shooting, including 5-of-19 from 3-point range.
“A lot of times, we score off the [dribble] when teams play us man, so I think that's why our assist totals are down,” Idaho head coach Jon Newlee said. “Once they played zone for the majority of the game, I thought we shared the ball well and made that extra pass and that's what we need to do.”
Freshman Shaena Kuehu, who put in a career-high 19 points the first time these two teams met on Jan. 8, led the Vandals again on Sunday with a 14-point, seven-rebound, four-assist, four-steal effort. She hit five of 11 field goals and four out of nine 3-point attempts.
Junior Derisa Taleni added 12 points, with two assists and two rebounds, while sophomore Alana Curtis nailed 4-of-6 from the field and finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. Sophomore Yinka Olorunnife hit seven free throws and finished with nine points, 11 boards, three assists and a career-high-tying four blocks.
Sunday's game also featured a season-high 15 assists for Idaho. Junior point guard Charlotte Otero led the way in that department, as she earned six dishes and had just one turnover in 40 minutes. She was also 2-of-3 from 3-point range and finished with eight points on the day.
After Friday's game started at break-neck pace, Sunday's contest went exactly the opposite, as Idaho started the game on a 7-0 run ? over the first seven-and-a-half minutes. The two teams combined for just 20 points over the first 11 minutes of the game, as Idaho went up 12-8 at 9:07 in the first. The teams managed to settle in over the final seven minutes of the first half and get some offense going and went into the break with Idaho leading, 27-20.
“Painful, I'm sure, for the fans to watch and painful for me to watch,” Newlee said of the first half. “We were getting good looks, and they just weren't going down. Our execution was good, but we just weren't putting the ball in the basket.
“Our defensive effort was really good, so I knew if we could continue to hold them down that sooner or later we were going to start scoring.”
The Vandals did start scoring right off the bat in the second half. After a lay-up by SJSU's Shaunna Ridge, Idaho rattled off seven in a row to go up 34-22 with 18:04 remaining. A jumper by Rachele Kloke at the 14:03 mark put Idaho up 38-29 and started an 18-2 run over the next 6:23, during which San Jose State was just one-for-eight from the field with six turnovers. The cap to the big run came from Kuehu, who drained a three from the top of the key to put Idaho up 54-31 with 7:41 remaining, after which SJSU didn't threaten.
The Spartans were led in scoring by Shaunna Ridge, who put in nine points and grabbed nine boards, while both Natalie White and Kelly Blair contributed eight points.
For the second-straight game, the Vandals put up a solid defensive performance. This time, Idaho held San Jose State scoreless for the first 7:58 of the game and held the Spartans without a field goal for a five-minute, 10-second streak in the second half. SJSU's 41 points are the fewest Idaho has allowed and the 23-point margin of victory was Idaho's largest in a WAC game since the Vandals joined the conference.
Idaho holds a slim edge on second place in the WAC after Sunday by virtue of Fresno State's win over Boise State and Louisiana Tech's win over Nevada. Fresno State still has its grasp on first place, while Boise State, Nevada and Louisiana Tech now share third place with 7-4 records. Idaho holds the head-to-head tie-breaker over Fresno State, lost twice to La Tech and once to Boise State and has yet to play Nevada.
After protecting the home court over the weekend, the Vandals will now take it to the road, as they head first to Nevada on Thursday, Feb. 19, then to Utah State on Sunday, Feb. 22.
