CHENEY, Wash. -- Twenty two Vandal turnovers and 23 Eastern Washington fast break points aided a 76-61 EWU victory over the Idaho women's basketball team Wednesday night.
Eastern knocked down 11 3-pointers and shot 65 percent from long range and 50 percent from the field to knock the Vandals to 4-8 on the season while improving to 6-7 overall.
"Our turnovers really cost us," Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. "We know the style they like to play and they're a good basketball team. We didn't take care of the basketball and they really hurt us from the 3-point line in transition. They definitely were hot shooting tonight."
The Vandals shot 36 percent for the game, hitting 18-of-50 shots including 4-of-13 3-pointers, and held a 34-31 advantage on the glass.
Idaho held EWU's Brianna Ryan, who entered the game averaging nearly 20 points per game, to just five points on 2-of-4 shooting in the first half, but Ryan went off for 14 points in the second half to narrowly miss her average.
Picking up the slack for Ryan in the first half for EWU was Chenise Pakootas, who came off the bench and hit 4-of-6 3-pointers and scored 14 points in the first half.
"I told them at half they were doing a great job on Ryan, but that doesn't mean we don't have to guard Pakootas," Newlee said. "We knew she could shoot it as well and there were some mental lapses defensively. They knocked their open 3's down, give them credit, they did. They shot the lights out tonight."
Idaho sophomore Alyssa Charlston had her third double-double of the season with a team-high 14 points and 14 rebounds. Seniors Keri Arendse and Ganeaya Rogers had nine points each for the Vandals, but combined for 10 of Idaho's 22 turnovers. Freshman Stacey Barr had seven points for the Vandals, all from the free throw line.
The Vandals held a slim 14-11 lead with 11 minutes to play in the first half before the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to take the lead for good. Idaho cut EWU's lead to two at 24-22 but the Eagles used their fastbreak style to go on an 11-2 run towards the end of the half and led by double digits the rest of the way.
"I told our team we have got to get tougher," Newlee said. "Eastern always plays that brand of ball, they're extremely well coached, they're going to play a physical game. And when they're allowed to play like that they're very tough, especially when they shoot it like that."
The Vandals play their next game in eight days when they face North Dakota for the second time this season at the Lady Griz Holiday Classic in Missoula, Mont., on Dec. 29. The Vandals will also face Southern Miss at the tournament on Dec. 30.
Idaho will then return home to host North Dakota on Jan. 3 and Seattle University on Jan. 5 before jumping into Western Athletic Conference play.
"They're going to enjoy some time with their families and come back and get ready for North Dakota," Newlee said. "It's a good opportunity to play a good tournament in Montana then have a couple home games before the WAC hits. It's only the mid-point, we haven't really started anything yet. They need to come back focused and ready to go."
