NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—Idaho women's basketball snapped its two-game skid with an 80-75 win over CSUN to open the Warner Center Marriott Thanksgiving Classic on Friday. The Vandals will play in the tournament's championship against TCU on Saturday (7:30 p.m.).

Senior Geraldine McCorkell led all players with a season-high 25 points. Four Vandals in all scored in double figures. Junior Mikayla Ferenz added 22 points to go with a career-high seven assists. Allison Kirby totaled 13 on the night, while Taylor Pierce put in 12.

How it Happened
Idaho (2-2) overcame CSUN's 2-for-2 start from 3 to open the game's scoring. The Matadors got out to a 16-11 lead when McCorkell scored five-straight points to even the score at 16. A 3 from Pierce gave the Vandals their first lead, 19-16, with 2:12 to go in the period. The Vandals closed the quarter with a Ferenz 3, taking a 25-18 lead.

Idaho continued its hot shooting from 2 in the second. The Vandals hit six triples in the period. Idaho went three straight possessions with 3's from McCorkell, Kirby and Pierce to gain a 15-point lead, 47-32, with 1:17 to play in the half. CSUN's Meghann Henderson put in a 3 with just over one minute left in the quarter, narrowing Idaho's lead to 13 points at the half.

CSUN (0-5) erased Idaho's double-digit lead in the third. The Matadors shot 64.3 percent (9-14) in the quarter, while Idaho saw its production slow to 6-of-12 shooting. CSUN outscored Idaho 26-16 in the quarter to cut the Vandal lead to four, 64-60, at the end of the quarter.

Idaho's lead was trimmed to two in the first 15 seconds of the fourth. Meghann Henderson hit on CSUN's first possession of the quarter. Ferenz answered back with Idaho's next four points, to put Idaho back up six, 68-62. CSUN kept the margin a one or two possession game for the remainder of the contest. The Matadors pulled back to even at 73 with 1:22 to play. Idaho outscored CSUN 7-2 in the final minute to seal the win.

Key Moment
Idaho took a 30-second timeout with 1:06 to play in the game, following Channon Fluker's game-tying layup for CSUN. The Vandals came out and got the ball in the hands of Pierce, one of Idaho's 3-point extraordinaires. Pierce drilled a long 3 with the shot clock winding down, giving Idaho an important three-point cushion.

The Vandals got a big defensive stop on CSUN's following possession as McCorkell ran down a long rebound to secure the possession. The Idaho senior converted both of her free throws with 23 seconds on the clock to give the Vandals a 78-73 lead. A second defensive stop for Idaho gave the team the ball back with 11 seconds to go. Kirby was good on her two free-throws put Idaho up by seven with seven seconds to play.

Quotes
Head Coach Jon Newlee
On impact of the win
"I think it was huge. We knew coming in here that they [CSUN] were a talented team. We knew they had shooters. We know these guys. Our greatest fear was that they were going to break out of their [shooting] slump. We knew we were going to have to do a better job of getting out to the 3-point line and playing better on-ball defense. At times we did, but at times they just made some great shots"

On Taylor Pierce's late 3-pointer
"I was thinking about the Weber State game [when she hit an overtime buzzer beater in 2016]. It was on the same side of the floor. This was more of a shot. She kind of tossed up the Weber one. We ran the play and didn't get the screen we wanted. She just kept coming and got that dribble-handoff. It was a huge shot for us. We needed that right then and there."

On late defensive stops
"Fluker really came alive in the second half. She is a beast down there. We finally got a couple of stops and ran our regular offense and got a couple of layups which was huge. Geri came in and finished strong at the rim. I was proud of us for making our free throws down the stretch. That was nice. Everyone kind of took their turn of making free throws and that is something we haven't been doing very well of this year."

Notes
Idaho shot a season-high 48.3 percent (28-58) from the field…Idaho finished with 13 3FGM after hitting 10 in the first half…Idaho has now hit a 3 in 298 consecutive games…three Vandals played all 40 minutes (Pierce, Kirby, Ferenz)…the Vandals committed a season-low nine turnovers…Idaho's 19 assists marked a season-high…Pierce now has 198 career 3FGM (5th program history)…Ferenz now sits at 184 career 3's (6th program history)…Idaho improved to 11-3 all-time against CSUN…and 3-3 in Northridge.

Upcoming
Idaho will play Texas Christian for the Tournament Championship at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. TCU defeated Arizona, 68-59, to advance. Idaho and TCU have met on four previous occasions. The two schools last met on Jan. 8, 1993, playing to a 72-54 Vandal defeat.