MOSCOW, Idaho—The Idaho Vandals let one slip away on Saturday against the Lady Grizzlies of Montana. The Vandals led for a total of 32:53 but it was Montana who claimed the 87-74 advantage at the final buzzer.

Senior Stacey Barr once again led the Vandals' offensive push. She finished with a game-high 27 points. Ali Forde recorded her fourth double-double of the season. She finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“I told the team sometimes you just got to fight through it [adversity] no matter what is going on out there,” head coach Jon Newlee commented. “Wherever the adversity is coming from you need to fight through it. I thought at times we lost our composure.”

Idaho shot an even 60 percent from the floor and an outstanding 62.5 percent from beyond the arc in the game's opening 20 minutes. Barr was 7-of-10 in the period for 21 points, including 3-for-4 from three. Christina Salvatore added two treys for her six points in the half. Karlee Wilson and Brooke Reilly each totaled four points as the Vandals enjoyed a 48-37 halftime-lead.

“Everybody was getting their touches [in the first half],” Newlee added. “We were getting some good looks. Obviously, Stacey got hot but she only took 10 shots. It was efficient basketball. That was the offense I was looking for on Thursday.”

Montana (16-6, 9-2) came out and scored the first four points of the second half, setting the tone for the remainder of the contest. The Lady Griz piled up a 12-4 run over the first 4:09 of the half, cutting Idaho's nine-point halftime lead to 52-49. Geraldine McCorkell, left alone in the right corner, hit a 3-pointer that looked like it was going to get Idaho back on track. Montana's Maggie Rickman scored four quick points and Alycia Simms followed with a jumper to tie the game at 57 with 13:32 to go.

Idaho (9-12, 3-7) doubled up the Lady Griz with 12-6 six-minute run, pulling ahead by six with 7:08 remaining. Montana's Kayleigh Valley hit a pair of free throws to cut the Vandal lead to 71-70. Missed opportunities plagued the Silver and Gold down the stretch. A Rickman three put the Lady Griz in front, 73-71. Barr answered with a dribble drive through the lane to tie the game at 74 with 2:08 on the clock. The visitors closed on a 13-0 run, holding Idaho off the scoreboard the final two minutes.

“That first four to six minutes was kind of a killer for us in the second half,” Barr said. “They came out with a lot of energy and we sort of did not. Once they got on that run we really needed to stop them and make our own run and we did not. That was disappointing.”

The Vandal offense hit a speed bump over the final 20 minutes of play. Idaho converted on just 8-of-23 field goal opportunities (25 percent). The Vandals went 1-for-14 from behind the arc in the second half, finishing 27.3 percent from 3-point range for the game. The Lady Griz used a 48.3 percent second-half shooting performance to overtake the Vandals. Montana finished 44.1 percent from regulation.

Four Grizzlies finished in double figures. Kellie Rubel led the way for Montana with 23 points. Rickman put in 17.

The Vandals hit the road next week for a pair of games on the west coast. They will begin at Portland State on Feb. 12 before heading south to Sacramento State. Idaho spilt the home-stand with the Vikings and Hornets earlier this season. The Vandals defeated PSU and lost to Sac State back in mid-January.