MOSCOW, Idaho—Senior Stacey Barr scored a game-high 27 points on Saturday in her last career game as an Idaho Vandal. The Vandals cruised past Idaho State with a 77-53 win on Saturday in the Cowan Spectrum. Idaho's season comes to a close at 14-15 and 8-10 in the conference play. Idaho, although tied with Idaho State in conference play, will miss out on the Big Sky Tournament due to the conference's tiebreaking procedures.
“I told the team we did a great job of taking care of our business, and controlling what we can control,” head coach Jon Newlee commented after the game. “We wanted to come out there and make a statement for our seniors and for our team all around.”
Idaho's defense stepped up in a big way on Saturday, holding the Bengals to nine first half field goals and a 26.5 shooting percentage. The Vandals snagged 18 defensive boards in the half, limiting ISU to just six offensive boards. The Idaho offense went on an 11-0 run over a span of 3:58 in the game's first 10 minutes to get out to an 18-6 lead. The first 14 Idaho-points came from the hands of Barr and junior Ali Forde. Idaho's strong first half continued its recent trend of dominate play. The Vandals took a 15-point lead into halftime at 36-21.
Idaho State never recovered from its poor first half. By the 10:38 mark of the second half the Vandals had gained a 21-point lead and were well on the way to victory. Barr totaled 15 of her 27 points in the second half. She and Forde connected three times on long outlet passes on the fast break. The duo was responsible for all eight of the team's fast-break points.
“We applied two beatdowns when we needed it the most,” Newlee stated. “I am proud of my team for stepping up and doing that. It shows you that we have got championship players and they proved today that we do not back down from the pressure. We embrace it.”
Barr left to a standing ovation after being subbed out for the final time with 44 seconds to play. She capped her final game off with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. For her career she finished with 1,896 points, fourth all-time, to go with her school-record 268 3-point field goals.
Austgulen got the starting nod for just the fourth time this season. She played seven minutes in all and hit one and only shot of the night, a 3-pointer, closing out her career with a smile.
“I think it was a great game to send our two seniors off with,” Forde said. “Stacey had a great game, scored close to 30 points and Maren goes out with a three in last 15 seconds. It just feels really good to be able to send them away like that.
“You come in as a freshman and Stacey and Maren are there by you side and helping you along. I am really going to miss them.”
Forde finished the afternoon with 16 points and 11 rebounds, closing the season with her 12th career double-double. Freshman Geraldine McCorkell was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field good for 10 points. Connie Ballestero led the team with six assists. She added four points in her 22 minutes off the bench.
The Tribe from the North, returns a core of contributing players next season with four of this season's five starters set to return. The team will have a strong senior class of Forde, Ballestero, Christina Salvatore, Tayla Corrigan and Renae Mokrzycki to lean on.
NOTES
Idaho shot 50.0 percent from the field (29-of-58) its second highest percentage of the season…the team has now hit a 3-point field goal in 227 consecutive games…they finish the season 4-3 in silver uniforms…Idaho committed just 12 team fouls, tied for the lowest of the season...Barr moved into fourth all-time with 511 career free-throw attempts.
