MOSCOW, Idaho -- The Vandal defense was up to the task as Western Athletic Conference leading Louisiana Tech paid a visit to the Cowan Spectrum, but 21 Idaho turnovers aided the Lady Techsters' 63-56 victory in women's basketball action on Thursday night.
Idaho's defense held LA Tech (14-5, 6-0 WAC) to just 37.9 percent shooting from the field, and just 63 points, but the Lady Techsters got nine more shots than the Vandals (10-8, 3-3 WAC) and scored 20 points off turnovers.
Idaho jumped out to a 14-5 lead early in the game, aided by an 11-0 run, but LA Tech answered with a 13-0 run to pull ahead 18-13. Idaho regained the lead at 21-20 but LA Tech answered again and went into halftime with a 30-25 advantage.
"I feel like our players were intimidated by them, and the fact that their jerseys said Louisiana Tech, and that is hugely disappointing to me," Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. "Yeah, we got off to a fast start, but I felt like the whole game our team was intimidated by them and when you get intimidated you start trying to do things you're not capable of doing with the basketball, because you don't trust yourself. And our team played like a team that didn't trust themselves to play their brand of basketball."
The Vandals never led in the second half, but pulled within four on a few occasions, the last being a 40-36 deficit with 13:24 left to play. That's when LA Tech went on an 18-4 run to take its largest lead of the ballgame, a 58-40 advantage with under five minutes to play. Idaho outscored LA Tech 16-5 to close the game, but it was not enough.
"We had great practices coming into this," Newlee said. "We practiced well, coming off the Boise win I thought our confidence was up, and we were ready to go. Tonight we were good and ready, and we blew a golden opportunity because I didn't think Louisiana Tech was ready to play."
Senior Yinka Olorunnife notched her ninth double-double of the season, finishing with a team-high 15 points and 12 rebounds. She shot 6-for-11 from the field but just 2-of-6 from the free throw line in the game. Senior Derisa taleni added 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting for Idaho, while collecting three rebounds and dishing out three assists. Junior Keri Arendse had eight points, five rebounds and three assists, and senior Rachele Kloke had six points and three rebounds for Idaho.
Idaho hit 19-of-49 shots in the game, and 5-of-15 3-pointers. LA Tech edged the Vandals on the glass, 37-36, and both teams scored seven points on the second-chance.
WAC Player of the Week Adrienne Johnson led all scorers with 24 points, and added 10 rebounds. She shot 11-for-18 from the field. The Lady Techsters hit just 5-of-20 3-point attempts, and 14-of-21 free throws.
The Vandals will get back on the court on Saturday afternoon, as New Mexico State visits the Cowan Spectrum for a 2 p.m. tipoff. Idaho will host San Jose State on Feb. 2 before hitting the road again.
Saturday's game against New Mexico State is Kids Day, and all kids under the age of 12 get free admission.
