CHENEY, Wash.—Idaho's first Big Sky Conference road trip of the season ended on a sour note on Saturday. The Vandals, plagued by a slow first half, fell to Eastern Washington, 71-65, at Reese Court to start conference play on the road.

Senior Stacey Barr contributed a game-high 22 points, helping the Vandals down the stretch with two key shots from behind the arc. On the day she was 8-of-23, including 18 second-half points.

“We dug ourselves a hole in both the first and second half.” Head coach Jon Newlee pointed out. “We started out slow offensively. I love the way we battled and came back. I like our rebounding effort tonight. We always have great games it feels like with Eastern.”

Idaho (7-7, 1-2) started just 4-for-15 from the floor and 1-for-7 from three-point range in the game's first ten minutes. The Vandals found themselves down 12 points halfway through the period. Freshman Geraldine McCorkell sparked life into Idaho's offense, igniting a 9-0 run to cut the EWU lead to 26-21, following a Karlee Wilson three with 7:52 left to play. EWU matched the Vandals with a 8-0 run of its own, extending its advantage to 37-21 with 2:57 left in the half.

The Silver and Gold answered with another run sparked by Renae Mokrzycki's four points from the bench. The Vandals were able to slim the Eagles lead to 37-30 by the end of the half.     

Eastern Washington (10-4, 3-0) started cold in the second half, missing its first four shots. The Vandals took advantage of the Eagles sorrow, opening the half with eight unanswered points to take a 38-37 lead at the 15:54 mark. Eastern Washington found its touch as the half continued and would lead Idaho by five halfway into the period.

The Vandals complied 6-0 run, fueled by four points from Barr to regain a 50-49 lead with 5:05 left to play. EWU's next possession put them back in the drives season thanks to a Lexie Nelson three with just under eight minutes to play. The Vandals would tie the contest and then take the lead, 57-54, off an Ali Forde three-point play with 5:34 on the clock. EWU pushed back but the Vandals answered each possession until Jade Redmon would tie and then give the Eagles the lead off a pair of free-throws with 3:23 to play. Eastern would not relinquish the lead, closing the game on a 7-2 run at the free-throw line.

“We just took a couple of bad shots and blew a couple layups,” Newlee said. “To their [EWU] credit they ran theirs stuff and hit their big shots when they needed to. “

Forde finished second on the team in scoring with 14 points. She snagged 10 rebounds to lead the Vandals. Saturday marked her second double-double of the season. McCorkell finished with 14 off the bench for Idaho.

EWU outshot the Vandals 44.4 percent to 32.9 percent. The Vandals had the advantage on the glass, totaling 52 rebounds to Eastern' s 36.

“Every night is rough in the Big Sky,” Newlee added. “The depth of the league is great. Every night I feel like we are going to get their best shot. We have to bring it every night from the start.”