MOSCOW - The Idaho women's basketball team consistently got good open looks under the basket, but shot just 25.8 percent from the field in a 70-57 loss to UC Riverside in the Cowan Spectrum Thursday night.

"We knew we could get good shots, we knew we could get to the rim, but if you can't make layups at this level you're not going to win games," Idaho coach Jon Newlee said after the game. "And we certainly missed, we stopped counting on the bench at 17, what we consider layups. I know at least 10 of them were point blank wide open missed layups that you should make every time. You can't get better shots than wide open layups and that's what we got tonight, a majority of our shots were right there and we did not finish at the rim."

Idaho (3-7) scored just 16 points in the first half after going 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) from the field including 2-of-10 from 3-point range as the Vandals trailed 29-16 at the break. The Vandals had 12 first-half turnovers which led to 17 Highlander (2-7) points.

"It was a point of emphasis in the locker room at halftime how many turnovers we had and the fact that we only had 16 points because we were turning the ball over like crazy," Newlee said. "I thought we played scared, intimidated, unfocused. I could use all those adjectives the way the first half went."

The Vandals fell behind by as many as 23 points in the second half, trailing 49-26 with just under 13 minutes to play. A 10-3 Idaho spurt closed the gap to 16 points with 9:23 to play but the teams traded baskets for the next seven minutes before Idaho was able to cut into UCR's lead even more.

"It was disappointing how we came out in the first half," senior Keri Arendse said. "We gave a lot better effort in the second half but like coach said we have to play 40 minutes and pick it up. We're a lot better team than we're showing, that's the disappointing part."

Senior Ganeaya Rogers scored 11 points in the final two minutes of the game for the Vandals with a pair of 3-pointers, an old fashioned 3-point play and a jumper in the paint. Couple that with three Highlander turnovers in that span and the Vandals were able to cut UC Riverside's lead to 10 points with 26 second to play, but wouldn't get any closer.

Four Vandal players scored in double-figures, led by sophomore Alyssa Charlston, who had her second double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Rogers finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting including 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Arendse had 11 points and seven rebounds in the game for Idaho, but also had five turnovers, including four in the first half. Jessica Graham scored a season-high 10 points for Idaho and added eight rebounds.

Freshman Stacey Barr gave the Vandals and early 3-0 lead with a 3-pointer on Idaho's first possession, but she missed her next five shots, all 3-point attempts, and after the Highlanders went ahead 9-7 six and a half minutes into the game, they would lead the rest of the way.

UC Riverside shot 39.3 percent from the field for the game, and connected on 7-of-19 3-pointers. The Highlanders were led by a double-double from TreShont Nottingham, who finished with game-highs with 28 points and 13 rebounds. She hit 11-of-12 free throws, all in the second half, and 5-of-9 3-pointers.

The Highlanders also outscored the Vandals 23-11 off turnovers, despite committing two more turnovers, 18-16, than Idaho.

Idaho wraps up its three game home stand against Wyoming (3-6) on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Cowan Spectrum.