HONOLULU, Hawai'i ? University of Idaho sophomore Yinka Olorunnife tied the school record for single season rebounds in a tense, 63-60 win over Hawai'i on Friday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
“It was a battle tonight,” Idaho head coach Jon Newlee said. “It was just a back-and-forth battle ? they'd score, then we'd score.”
Olorunnife's 11 boards for the night gave her 277 this season, a total that ties her with Denise Brose's 1980-81 rebounding tally for best in school history. Olorunnife also added eight points, two steals and one block in 24 minutes of play.
“Yinka did a good job. She had three fouls in the first half, so she couldn't be as aggressive as she usually is, even in rebounding, but she had a great effort tonight,” Newlee said.
Sophomore Rachele Kloke proved to be the X-factor on Friday, as she went 8-of-11 from the field and scored a career-high 20 points, including three crucial free throws over the final 1:48 that clinched the win for the Vandals.
“Kloke was aggressive tonight and really got her mid-range jumper going, which is one of her strengths,” Newlee said. “We had serious foul trouble going with Yinka and Derisa and when she came in, she really gave us a boost. She really bailed us out with some big shots when the shot clock was winding down to keep us ahead.”
Idaho junior Derisa Taleni, the WAC's second-leading scorer in conference games, poured in 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished three assists and tied a career high with three blocked shots in 33 minutes of play.
Idaho led by as many as nine points in the second half, but the Rainbow Wahine put together a furious rally over the final 10 minutes that saw them take a two-point lead at 56-54 with 4:52 remaining, but the Vandals outscored Hawai'i 9-4 to close out the game and move to 9-5 in the WAC and 12-13 overall.
The Vandal offense was as accurate as it's been all season, with a team .490 (25-51) shooting percentage for the day, compared to .383 (23-60) for Hawai'i. Idaho also outscored Hawai'i 32-26 in the paint and 22-17 off turnovers, while the Wahine held a 10-8 advantage in second-chance points and a 6-2 edge in fast-break points.
“I thought we were doing a good job of getting inside and taking some good shots,” Newlee said. “We didn't really shoot the three tonight very well, but we ended up getting inside and getting to the rim and that's why we shot such a high percentage.”
The final eight minutes of the game went about as odd as it could have. First, the power went out in the arena for thirty minutes in the middle of the second half. Then over the two teams exchanged leads and ties for 3 minutes late in the half, they both suddenly went cold and combined to go 0-8 from the field with four turnovers over the final 2:24 after Taleni tied the game with a driving lay-up. The only points during that time came from Kloke's three made free throws.
"We were on a roll, then all of a sudden the lights go off and the power was out for 30 minutes and we had to restart the game at the 7:50 mark," Newlee said.
Factoring in the Vandals playing at least one WAC Tournament game at the end of the season, Olorunnife needs to average eight rebounds per game to become the first Idaho player and the 10th WAC player to grab 300 boards in a single season. She is averaging 11.9 per WAC game this season.
With the win, Idaho moves into a tie with Boise State for third place in the WAC. The Vandals will play host to Nevada on Wednesday, Mar. 4, before heading to Boise to face the Broncos in the regular-season finale on Saturday, Mar. 7.
