MOSCOW, Idaho –The University of Idaho women's basketball team improved to 7-5 overall and 6-2 in Big Sky play defeating Northern Colorado (4-9, 3-5) 74-57 Saturday afternoon. The Vandals outscored Northern Colorado 45-28 in the second half after scoring 29 apiece in the first. Gina Marxen led the Vandals for the fifth game in a row scoring a game-high 21 points as three other Vandals totaled double-digit points. Limited turnovers and a hot shooting third period aided the Vandals in a 17-point win, avoiding the sweep.

THE GAME
 
Idaho struggled offensively in the first shooting just 26.7 percent from the floor and trailed 15-12 after ten minutes.
 
Northern Colorado jumped out to a 21-16 lead early in the second before a 9-3 run gave Idaho a 25-24 lead. Hailey Christopher scored inside off a Gabi Harrington assist with three minutes remaining for the lead. A pair of Beyonce Bea free-throws tied the game up 29-29 with1:15 to go before half. Neither side was able to take the lead into halftime.

The third period was all Idaho. Gina Marxen opened the scoring less than 50 seconds in giving Idaho a 32-29 advantage following a three-pointer. Marxen's three sparked a 9-2 run over the next three minutes extending the lead to six, 38-32. After giving up a Bears' free-throw a quick five points comprised of a Marxen layup and a Harrington three-pointer gave Idaho a double-digit lead, 43-33. The Vandals outscored Northern Colorado just 11-10 in the final five minutes of the period, but Idaho carried a 54-43 lead into the fourth. Idaho shot 71.4 percent from the field and scored 25 points in the period. Marxen scored nine of her 21 points in the third period.
 
In the fourth Idaho continued a high-scoring second half, outscoring the Bears 20-14. Christopher extended Idaho's lead, just 20 seconds in, scoring a layup in the paint off a Northern Colorado turnover. With 6:07 left to play Bea scored her 19^th point, capping off back-to-back jumpers, extending Idaho's lead to 17, 62-45. Northern Colorado trimmed Idaho's lead to 15 with 2:10 to play but the Vandals responded with five points in four seconds to take their largest lead of the game 73-53 with 37 seconds to play. All five points on the closing run came from Marxen.  Idaho finished off the Bears, splitting the series with a 74-57 victory.
 
THE QUOTES Head Coach Jon Newlee

"It was Déjà vu in the first. I thought 'What is this? What is going on right now?' Then once we got out that it was good. I felt good going into halftime because I knew we could play much better. We really responded in the second half."
 
"We talked at halftime and I told them, 'We are standing around and dribbling and everyone's watching. We need to be cutting, we need to move the basketball with the pass, and we have to be more active.' I thought we did a better job of just moving the basketball with the pass and ran a couple of sets they haven't seen. Our team just executed great in the second half."
 
"Alli was a beast on the boards. It was great having Nat for just a quarter and I think she gave everyone an emotional lift being here. She's such a leader for us and has high energy and that's what we got out of her today as she continues to try and come back. I'm proud of her for making the effort and for everybody really feeding off that and bouncing back from Thursday. We had another good film session yesterday and talked about being more physical to the rim, attacking their pressure. I think our team took it to heart and did a great job today."
 
"I thought our team was great to deny her [Alisha Davis] as much as we could in the paint. Our x-factor was really doing a great job which most of the time was Alli getting down there and she took some huge charges from Davis. Great job by Beyonce as well in two games dealing with arguably the best post player in our conference. Just a great single effort by Bea then a great team effort to back her up."
 
"Defensively I thought we really did a much better job. You know we only gave one three pointer made to Isenbart and that really killed us Thursday. We had to limit her. We know Davis can score but we couldn't let the others go off like they did Thursday so that was great by us."

THE NAME
 
Allison Kirby was a force on the boards tonight recording a game-high 11 rebounds, standing at just 5 feet, 7 inches tall. Kirby along with Beyonce Bea and the rest of the squad held Northern Colorado to just 18 rebounds including holding the Big Sky rebounding leader, Alisha Davis, to just eight. Kirby also recorded three assists, including a pair of cross court heaves, and totaled two steals. The senior finished plus 17 on the box score and played 32 minutes.
 
THE NOTES
 
Idaho finished with four players scoring in double-figures. Marxen led the way with 21 points, 16 of which came in the second half. Beyonce Bea totaled 19 points and finished 7-of-14 from the field. Gabi Harrington added a season-high 17 points and recorded two steals. Hailey Christopher chipped in 10 points off the bench.
 
Idaho outrebounded Northern Colorado 30-18 and 8-5 on the offensive glass. The Vandals held a narrow advantage in second chance points, 6-5.
 
Idaho forced 17 Northern Colorado turnovers and only committed 11 themselves, one below their season average. Idaho scored 25 points off turnovers while the Bears totaled just 11.
 
Fast break points went in favor of Idaho 10-0.
 
Ball movement was important for the Vandals in the win, totaling 14 assists. Marxen led the way with four and had zero turnovers.
 
There were seven lead changes in the contest and the Vandals led for 20:48.
 
 
UP NEXT:
 
The Vandals will return to Moscow for a week off before taking on Weber State University Thursday, Jan. 28.