CHENEY, Wash. – The University of Idaho women's basketball team set the record for 3-point goals in a season with 10 at Eastern Washington Saturday but it wasn't enough to overcome the Eagles in a key Big Sky Conference game at Reese Court.
The Eagles' 26-13 domination of the fourth quarter broke open a tight game and gave them the 84-70 victory. Eastern (19-9, 13-3) takes over sole possession of second in the league with the Vandals (20-8, 12—4) third with two regular-season games to play before the conference tournament at Reno.
“We had a lot of defensive breakdowns,” coach Jon Newlee said. “I don't know if we got tired but, again, no excuses. Everyone has to step up and do their job.”
Idaho was without leading scorer Christina Salvatore but freshman Mikayla Ferenz stepped up with a career-best 26 points to fill that void.
“Mikayla had a great game,” Newlee said. “From an offensive standpoint, she was taking her shot with confidence.”
His message for the team, though, went back to defense.
“You have to gut through it,” he said. “We just broke down in that fourth quarter. We have to defend better.”
Geraldine McCorkell opened the scoring for Idaho but for nearly four minutes, the Vandals went scoreless and the Eagles forged a 10-2 lead. Ali Forde ended the drought with a field goal, Karlee Wilson added two free throws and back-to-back 3s from Taylor Pierce and Mikayla Ferenz closed the gap.
Ferenz added another jumper to tie the game at 14 with 2:25 to go in the first and then put ahead again with a 3 20 seconds later. That ignited the Vandals and back-to-back layups by Forde gave the Vandals a 21-14 lead with 1:14 remaining in the first quarter – a lead that held up until the first break.
Taylor Pierce stretched the Idaho lead to 10, 24-14, with a 3 with 8:45 left in the second quarter before Eastern began to steadily chip away at the lead. With :59 to go in the first half, the Eagles closed to within 37-34 on Tisha Phillips 3. She cut it to one, 37-36, with :36 remaining and gave Eastern the halftime lead, 38-37, with a mid-range jumper with :04 to go before halftime.
That set the stage for a back-and-forth third quarter which, for Idaho, was highlighted by Ferenz's 3-pointer with 5:31 to go in the period. It was the Vandals' seventh 3 of the game and enabled them to break the 2013-14 record for 3-point goals in a season (290). Pierce's 3 with time expiring in the period brought the Vandals back to within in one, 58-57, heading into the final quarter.
A surge by the Eagles through the middle portion of the fourth quarter put the Vandals in a hole that grew to a 12-point deficit with four minutes to play. Idaho cut the Eagles' lead to 10 once but that was as close as the Vandals would come as Eastern doubled Idaho's output in the final period.
In addition to Ferenz's team-best 26, Forde finished with 14 points and Wilson with 11. Forde also had seven rebounds – another area where, despite dominating early, the Vandals failed to keep pace.