MOSCOW, Idaho—The Idaho women's basketball team scored its first home-conference win of the season Saturday afternoon. The Vandals defeated Portland State in convincing fashion, 77-49. Senior Stacey Barr took control in the second half with 15 points, leading the charge against the Vikings.
Barr began the day five points behind her former teammate Alyssa Charlston for fifth on Idaho's all-time scoring list. The Aussie senior scored seven points in the opening half, to jump ahead of Charlston. She finished the afternoon with 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting, giving her 1,605 career points.
“That was Stacey Barr today,” head coach Jon Newlee said of the guard's play. “That was an MVP effort. The names that she is passing were all great players here. She has earned it. She is a great player.”
Idaho (8-8, 2-3) enjoyed a size advantage over the visiting Vikings. The Vandals scored 40 points in the paint totaling 44 rebounds and 14 second-chance points. Portland State on the other hand finished with just 12 points in the paint and 25 total rebounds. Ali Forde totaled 13 points on the night, eight of which came in the paint. She also asserted herself defensively with nine rebounds and six blocks.
“Our game-plan was to jam it in,” Newlee commented. “We wanted to let Ali, Geri [McCorkell], Brooke [Reilly] and whoever loose inside. I thought we had that advantage and we hardly ever have that. Today we did and we definitely wanted to take advantage of that.”
Portland State (3-15, 1-5) started the game 0-for-5. The Vandals used the first 3:27 of the game to jump out to a 6-0 lead. A Barr three opened a 10-0 run for Idaho that boosted its lead to 20-11 with 10:58 to play. Christina Salvatore closed the half for Idaho with a three-pointer in the final seconds to give Idaho an 11-point lead, its largest of the half.
Lauren Holt got the scoring started in the second half for Portland State on its first possession. The Vandals answered right back with Forde hitting an open three from the top of the arc to extend the lead to 12 with just over a minute played in the half. The Vikings would get the lead back down to 10 before the Vandals went on an 8-0 run, headlined by Barr's five points, to put the lead at 47-29. Portland State could not handle the tenacity the Idaho offense was playing with on Saturday, as Idaho would lead by as many as 28 by the final buzzer.
All 13 players got off the bench for Idaho, with 10 players recording points. Geraldine McCorkell led the bench with 10 points, while Salvatore finished the day with eight points. Brooke Reilly, Karlee Wilson, Renae Mokrzycki, and Agueda Trujillo each totaled five points. Connie Ballestero and Tayla Corrigan both added two points.
“When you lose a game you want to come back and get the split,” Barr said of Idaho's 1-1 record this week. “I am glad we did it, but we need to get some more wins.”
Idaho hits the road next week for a pair of Big Sky games. The Vandals make the trip to North Dakota on Thursday and back track to Northern Colorado on Saturday. The team returns home on Jan. 31 to host Eastern Washington.
Notes:
The Vandals did not attempt a free-throw in the first half…Idaho finished with a season-best 50.8 field goal percentage…McCorkell has now hit her last 11 free-throw attempts….Barr tied Leslie McIntosh for seventh all-time on Idaho's rebounding list with 669…Ballestero's five assists moves her into ninth all-time with 308, passing Ari Skorpik's 307…the Vandals improve to 6-2 on the season after a loss…the team is 3-1 in white uniforms this season…the Vandals have gone 215 games with at least one three-point field goal.
