MOSCOW, Idaho—Senior Day did not disappoint for the Vandal women's basketball team on Saturday. Idaho scored a season-high 38 points in the first quarter on its way to a 107-60 win over Sacramento State.
Idaho's four-year seniors shined bright in their final career-home game. Ali Forde posted a career-high 23 points to go with her five rebounds. Christina Salvatore was perfect in the first quarter, hitting all four of her 3-point attempts. She finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Connie Ballestero recoded her second-career double-double, and first since January, 5, 2013. She finished with 11 points and 10 assists, recording the first points/assists double-double for Idaho in four years.
Idaho (20-7, 12-3 BSC) came out firing on Saturday. The Vandals shot 15-of-21 in the quarter, including a 7-of-9 start from 3-piont range. Salvatore's second 3 put Idaho up 11-2 in the game's first four minutes. A Forde layin forced Sac State to take a timeout, down 13-4, with seven minutes left in the period. A 7-0 run put the Silver and Gold up 20-4 with just under five minutes gone in the quarter. Idaho closed the quarter on a 9-0 run, capped off by a Geraldine McCorkell 3 to win the period, 38-13. Forde and Salvatore each hit double figures in the stanza with 13 and 12, respectively.
"Part of that [the first quarter] was about the excitement of being here and ready to play," Forde explained. "It just felt good."
"Before the game everyone was like 'Let's do it for our seniors,'" Ballestero added. "We were all pumped up and ready go to. It is our last game in there [Cowan Spectrum] and we wanted to leave it out on the court."
Sacramento State (10-15, 7-7 BSC) cut the Idaho lead down to 20 at 40-20 with 7:52 remaining in the half. It would be as close to a comeback as the Hornets would get. Idaho built its lead back up to 30 points at the end of the half, with a layup from Mikayla Ferenz to take a 59-29 lead into the break.
"We did a great job tonight," head coach Jon Newlee noted. "It is obviously the best we have done in the time we have been in the Big Sky and had to play that kind of system. We really did a great job of keeping our poise and running the attack."
Idaho was able to extend its lead to 42 points by the end of the third quarter, closing the frame with a layin from senior Renae Mokrzycki to beat the buzzer. The Vandals largest lead came in the fourth quarter widening the margin to 48 in the final two minutes. Sophomore Nejra Solo hit the final hoop for Idaho to get to 107 points, the most scoring 118 at Gonzaga in 1983.
"I think we are playing well right now," Newlee said. "This is a great time to be playing well. We are playing together and everybody understands their role. Everybody is focused. Our practices have been really good. I like where we are at the last couple of games."
The Vandals finished the game shooting 55.7 percent from the field (39-for-70) and 46.4 percent (13-for-28) from 3. Idaho matched its season-high with 60 rebounds and totaled 29 assists. The Vandals used their size to their advantage, scoring 48 points in the paint.
The Idaho defense held the Hornets, the top 3-point shooting team in the NCAA, to just eight 3's on 54 attempts. Adella Randel-El led Sacramento State with 14 points.
The Vandals close out the season with three consecutive road games. Idaho will start the road trip next Saturday at Eastern Washington. The final two games for Idaho will be against Weber State and Idaho State.
For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com. Fans can also follow Idaho women's basketball on Twitter, @VandalsWBB.
