BOISE, Idaho - For the first time since the 1996-97 season, the Idaho women's basketball team completed a regular season sweep over in-state rival Boise State, as the Vandals overcame an 11-point first-half deficit to beat the Broncos 61-46 Saturday night. The Vandals used a red-hot 23-of-25 performance at the free throw line to help seal the victory.
Trailing 24-14 with under five minutes to play in the first half, the Vandals (13-10, 6-5 Western Athletic Conference) used a 15-1 run that stretched nearly three minutes into the second half to pull ahead for good.
"I told my guys, it's a tough start but there's a lot of game left," Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. "It was a physical basketball game. I said 'you have to battle through it, you can't worry about it, and you have to continue to look for good shots and quality looks.'"
Idaho's defense clamped down, holding the Broncos (11-14, 2-9 WAC) more than 10 minutes without a field goal from the 8:53 mark in the first half to the 17:10 mark in the second. The Vandals scored the last six points of the first half, including four from Jessica Graham, and trailed 24-20 at the break.
And the Vandals didn't stop there. Alyssa Charlston opened the second half with a with a layup, followed by four straight points from Derisa Taleni and a 3-pointer from Bianca Cheever, while BSU could muster just a free throw as Idaho cruised ahead 29-25.
The Vandals did a lot of their work down low, outscoring BSU 26-16 in the paint, while owning a 40-38 advantage on the glass.
"Boise kids inside are very physical, they're big kids," Newlee said. "We try to use our quickness on the perimeter and maybe get by them and get to the rim and maybe get some fouls. We made a conscious effort to get the ball down on the low block, and it seemed to work out for us."
The Vandals had three double-figure scorers, led by Taleni's 17. She added four rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks in the game as well.
Yinka Olorunnife secored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and went a perfect 9-for-9 from the free-throw line. Alyssa Charlston, in her fourth start of the season, had 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting, and eight rebounds.
Bianca Cheever finished with nine points for Idaho, Keri Arendse had five and Graham had four points and four rebounds.
The Vandals shot 35.4 percent for the game, hitting 17-of-48 shots but just 4-of-20 (20.0 percent) 3-pointers. However, the Vandal defense held BSU to just 27.4 percent shooting (17-of-62) and 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) from 3-point range.
"I said 'poise, composure, on the road goes a long way' and I think they took that to heart, they kind of settled down and started playing their game," Newlee said. "I think tonight, for three quarters of the game, we came out and did a great job of executing our stuff."
Janie Bos led Boise State with 10 points, and Kati Isham finished with seven.
It was Idaho's last chance to face the Broncos as a WAC opponent, as Boise State will join the Mountain West Conference next season. Newlee said after the game that he hopes that despite BSU leaving the WAC, the rivalry continues.
"I would love to keep it going, I think it's a great rivalry between the two schools, and if we can keep it going, I'm all for it."
The Vandals return to action with their final two home games of the season next week. Idaho will host Nevada on Feb. 17, and Utah State on Feb. 19.
