MOSCOW, Idaho—The Vandals used an 18-0 run in the first half of play Wednesday night to put the game out of reach for Northwest Christian. Freshman Taylor Pierce led Idaho with a game-high 16 points in the 71-48 win. The Vandals have now won their third game in a row and improve to 6-1 on the season.

Senior Christina Salvatore started the night for Idaho, hitting the game's first basket to get the Vandals on the board 3-0. Both teams struggled to get the offense flowing in the first minutes. NCU opened 0-for-3 before tying the game at 3. The Beacons took a brief 6-4 lead at the 5:21 mark of the first. Renae Mokrzycki put the Vandals up, for good, at 8-6 with 4:37 to play in the period. The basket started the 18-0 run that pushed the Idaho to a 16-point lead, 22-6, midway through the second quarter.

"That was a good run for us and it was kind of what we expected," Newlee commented. "It took a while for us to get dialed in. I was a bit disappointed with our lack of focus tonight."

Pierce gave the Vandals a 23-point lead off a 3-pointer with 4:46 to play in the opening half. A pair of McCorkell free-throws closed the first 20 minutes, putting Idaho ahead 38-16 at the break.

The Vandals continued to build on the lead in the third and fourth quarter. The Idaho bench totaled 30 points on the night, seeing plenty of action over the final 20 minutes. A Mokrzycki layup with 1:34 to play in the third quarter put the Vandals up by 30, 53-23. Pierce's fourth 3-pointer of the night gave Idaho a 31-point lead, its largest of the game, in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. Freshman Mikayla Ferenz added two 3's before the final buzzer.

Northwest Christian (4-3) totaled 26 turnovers, matching Duke for the most this season. Idaho scored 26 points off the Beacon's mishaps. The Vandals recorded a season-high 18 steals. Idaho's starting-five combined for 13 steals, with only five turnovers of their own.

"I thought Karlee Wilson was fantastic defensively for us tonight." Newlee added. "I thought she supplied a lot of the energy tonight."

The 48 points allowed by the Vandal defense was the second lowest by an opponent this season. NCU attempted an opponent-low 47 field goals.  Andrea Gloss led the Beacons with 14 points.

Salvatore finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Mokrzycki, in her second start of the season, totaled 11 points and seven rebounds. Connie Ballestero handed out a game-high five assists. Wilson snagged seven rebounds to go with five points, four assists and two steals. Ferenz ended the night with eight points, shooting 3-of-6 in her 22 minutes. Senior Tayla Corrigan posted six points off the bench.

After the slow start the Vandals ended the night shooting 36.8 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from 3-point range.

"We lacked a bit of intensity to start the game," Salvatore said. "But once we get going we are kind of like a well-oiled machine. We hope to get our offense going by our defense. We tried to fire it up on the defensive end so it translates to our offense."

The Vandals are back in action on Saturday. Idaho hosts the Wyoming Cowgirls in the season's first game in the Cowan Spectrum. Tip is set for 2 p.m. PT.

"We will have to come out a lot stronger than we did today," Pierce noted about Wyoming. "We will need to finish around the rim better. Our shots will fall eventually. We just need to keep up the defensive intensity."

For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com.  Fans can also follow Idaho women's basketball on Twitter, @VandalsWBB.

NOTES:
Idaho has now hit a 3-pointer in 234 consecutive games...the Vandals are 3-0 in when wearing white...Salvatore is four 3's away from tying former teammate Stacey Barr for the school-record...Ballestero hit 13 consecutive free-throws before missing 14th attempt of the season...McCorkell's six-game streak of scoring in double figures came to an end with six points Wednesday.