PORTLAND, Ore.—The Idaho Vandals women's basketball team started Thursday with very little room for error in its finals eight games of the season. The Vandals opened their final stretch of the season with a convincing 69-49 win over Portland State at the Stott Center.

Idaho (10-12, 4-7) started the day 11th in the Big Sky standings, needing to get into the top eight to qualify for the conference tournament. By the end of Thursday's games the Vandals moved to a tie for ninth with Southern Utah in the standings.

The Vandals held Portland State to 49 points for the second time this season. Idaho won the school's first matchup back on Jan. 17, 77-49. Head coach Jon Newlee mixed up the starting lineup for the first time in 15 contests. Sophomore guard Karlee Wilson got her third start of the season and freshman Geraldine McCorkell cracked the starting five for the first time in her career.

“Overall I did like the lineup change tonight,” Newlee said. “Karlee really brought us some energy, especially defensively. We wanted her to get up on their point guard and make it hard for them to run their offense. I liked the change, I will evaluate it for Saturday to see what we do.”

Stacey Barr notched her 15th game of the season with 20 or more points on Thursday. She scored 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting. She made a game-high seven free throws, getting to the line 10 times. The senior-standout scored seven points in only nine minutes in the second half, getting a breather to close out the contest. Ali Forde finished the night with 13 points and five rebounds, playing a majority of the second half with three fouls. Brooke Reilly led the team in rebounds with nine. She flirted with her first double-double of the season, ending the night with eight points. Tayla Corrigan led the bench with eight points in 12 minutes.

“They [Portland State] had no answer for Ali tonight,” Newlee commented. “She is unstoppable when she plays like she did tonight. The problem is she hit some foul trouble again and she had to sit down. She had 13 points in 21 minutes. She was dominating when she was in there.”

Idaho's defense played with a chip on its shoulder after allowing 87 and 76 points in its last two losses. The Vandals are now 10-3 on the season when allowing fewer than 70 points. The Vandals outrebounded the Vikings 42-35 on the night, limiting PSU to six second-chance points. The Silver and Gold posted 11 offensive boards, helping them to 15 second-chance points. Idaho's perimeter defense had its best night of the season, holding Portland State to a 10 percent 3-point field goal percentage and just 23 points in the second half.

Portland State (3-20, 1-11) only held the lead once on the night. Emily Eason hit a jumper with 15:57 to play in the first half to take a 7-6 lead. A Forde inside-jumper stole the lead back on Idaho's next possession to regain the 8-7 lead. Christina Salvatore boosted Idaho to a six-point advantage with a long-range three to give the Vandals their largest lead of the half. Midway through the second Idaho enjoyed a 14-point lead in thanks to a McCorkell three. Bethany Krause hit the front end of a 1-and-1 to go up by 20 with under three minutes to play. The Vandals' largest lead of the game came after a pair of Reilly free-throws, putting Idaho up by 24 at 69-45 with 2:12 to play.

Idaho shifts focus to Sacramento State on Saturday. The Hornets dropped a close one to Eastern Washington, 80-79, on Thursday. Fantasia Hilliard led the Hornets with 18 points with Hallie Gennett and Adella Radle-el added 14 and 12 points respectively. The Vandals lost the initial meeting with Sac. State this season, 107-89, despite Barr's game-high 21 points.

First tip is set for 2 p.m. PT

NOTES
Tonight's win marks the first Thursday night win of the season for the Vandals….Idaho has now hit a 3-point field goal in its last 22o games…McCorkell is now a perfect 20-for-20 from the free-throw line in conference play...Idaho improves to 6-7 in black this season.