CANCUN, Mexico—It was just another day in paradise for the Idaho women's basketball team on Friday. The Vandals scored 45 points in the second half to breeze past Texas State, 75-55, in Idaho's second game of the Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.
Sophomore Geraldine McCorkell led the Vandals with 18 points to go along with her eight rebounds. Ali Forde posted her 14th career double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds, adding four blocks and three assists. Christina Salvatore went 4-fo-5 from beyond the arc, helping her to a season-high 16 points.
Idaho (4-1) started the morning 3-of-4 from the floor shooting, getting out to an 8-4 lead in the game's first four minutes. A McCorkell 3 put Idaho in the driver's set with an 11-point first-quarter lead. The Australian continued to have a magic touch, closing the quarter with a buzzer-beating runner off the high glass to help Idaho double up the Bobcats, 18-9.
Texas State (2-3) began the second quarter with a 4-0 run, cutting the Idaho lead to five in the first 54 seconds of period. The Vandals regained an 11-point advantage off a McCorkell layin with 4:09 to play in the half. Texas State ran off an 11-1 run to end the half, slicing the Vandal lead to 30-29 at the break.
“Texas State works really hard,” head coach Jon Newlee commented. “They are a good team that does not quit. I thought we were our own worst enemy in that run. We were traveling and throwing the ball around. We were still playing pretty decent defense, we were just careless with the ball. I felt like when we made them run their half-court offense, we were really solid today.”
The Silver and Gold came out firing in the third quarter. Idaho opened on a 6-0 run, featuring 3's from McCorkell and Salvatore. The Vandals kept the pressure on Texas State the entire quarter, reclaiming the 11-point lead off a Salvatore layup with 4:29 to play in the third. Renae Mokrzycki ended the quarter with a basket inside the paint, giving the Vandals a 51-39 lead. Idaho totaled 10 of its 21 third-quarter points in the paint.
“I told the team at the half that we needed to clean some things up,” Newlee added. “We could have put them away in the second quarter. The first five minutes of the second half we had to come out and play Vandal basketball.”
Freshman Taylor Pierce hit the second of her 3-pointers with 8:16 to play to put Idaho up, 56-39. The Bobcats put together an 8-0 stretch, cutting the Vandal lead down to nine with 5:25 to play. Karlee Wilson ended the Texas State comeback attempt with a 3 of her own to put the Vandals back up by 12, 59-47, with 4:59 to go.
Six consecutive points from Forde put Idaho up 17 with 2:46 left to play. Salvatore gave Idaho its largest lead of 22 points, 51-73, with 80 seconds remaining in the contest.
Idaho finished the day with 32 points in the paint, shooting 51.9 percent for the game. Texas State was held to just 18 points in the paint and 30.4 percent shooting. The Vandals totaled 45 rebounds to the Bobcats' 30.
“We figured Ali even at 60 percent—which she is right now—was going to dominate in the paint,” Newlee said of the gameplan. “Some of our turnovers came from trying to force the ball down low to Geri and Ali. We might have tried to force it too much at times. We thought we could get in the paint and we did.”
Connie Ballestero led the game with six assists to go with her seven points. Wilson, Pierce and Mokrzycki all closed the game with six points. Willson added three assists and a steal. Pierce and Mokrzycki combined for seven rebounds.
Idaho wraps up the Cancun Challenge with its third game in as many days on Saturday. The Vandals will play Iowa State. Start time is set for 8 a.m. PT.
For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com. Fans can also follow Idaho women's basketball on Twitter, @VandalsWBB.
