MOSCOW - The Idaho women's basketball team was able to cut a 23-point second-half deficit to eight points, but it was too little too late as Utah State left Moscow with a 78-70 victory Saturday night.
A 22-2 Utah State run that turned a 25-24 Idaho (5-16, 0-5 Western Athletic Conference) lead into a 46-27 Utah State (13-7, 4-1 WAC) advantage just before halftime proved to be the difference in the game.
"We started the game doing a great job against their trap, and we were moving the ball well, taking good shots, not turning it over leading to their break," Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. "It seemed like one turnover on top opened up the flood gates and they went on that run. We can't play for 30 (minutes), you've got to play for 40, I keep saying that."
The Vandals shot the ball well, hitting 49 percent (25-of-51) of their shots, their second highest percentage of the season, but 22 turnovers helped Utah State attempt 10 more field goals than Idaho.
The Aggies were hot shooting as well, hitting 47.5 percent (29-of-61) of their field goals including 6-of-12 from 3-point range. Idaho owned a 32-29 advantage on the glass, and outscored Utah State 10-8 in second chance points. Utah State's 10 offensive rebounds matched the lowest for an Idaho opponent since Dec. 21 against Eastern Washington.
"You can see the difference in our box out," Newlee said of Idaho's rebounding effort. "We did a much better job of at least attempting to box out, putting a body on somebody. Ten O-boards to me is a lot, but I can't even remember the last time it was that low. So that's good, were making progress and that's what I'm talking about."
The Vandals were led by sophomore Alyssa Charlston and freshman Stacey Barr. Charlston finished one point shy of her career-high as she poured in 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting. She narrowly missed her seventh double-double of the season as she also collected nine rebounds. Meanwhile, Barr knocked down 6-of-13 3-point attempts and matched her career-high with 20 points. But outside of Charlston and Barr, the Vandals combined to go 6-of-18 from the field.
"That's where the shot was tonight," Newlee said. "We knew Alyssa would get her looks playing where she was playing against their defense. We tell our guys on the outside to be shot-ready. There are some other people who could have had their shots tonight, but they passed up, and that's why I took a couple of them out. You can't rely on two people to take all the shots."
Sophomore Ashley Walters scored a season-high seven points and added three blocks in the game, while senior Keri Arendse and junior Jessica Graham each added five points.
Utah State was led by Devyn Christensen who scored 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, but was held to just three points on 0-of-4 shooting in the second half. Maddy Plunkett hit 2-of-4 3-pointers for the Aggies and finished with 12 points. Utah State outscored Idaho 21-14 in points off turnovers, and 42-30 in the paint.
The Vandals will be on the road for a pair of WAC games next week as they visit Hawai'i on Feb. 2 and San Jose State on Feb. 4 to round out the first half of the WAC season.
