MOSCOW, Idaho – The Vandals women's basketball streak came to an end this Saturday in the ICCU Arena against Eastern Washington University, 67-44.
Vandals got an early start with a jumper by Amalie Langer that kickstarted a three-minute scoreless run by EWU. Idaho was up for most of the quarter thanks to Kennedy Johnson with six points on the board, shooting 2-4 from the field, and 2-2 from three.
In the second quarter, Idaho went 2-9 from the three-point line giving the Eagles more opportunities to score in between attempts. The Eagles also had a seven point unanswered run the last three minutes of the half.
At the end of the first half, Idaho trailed the Eagles 16-27 marking the lowest scoring half of the season for the Vandals. Johnson led the half with six points and four rebounds, but had help from Sarah Schmitt, Asha Phillips, and Ashlyn Wallace to keep the team afloat.
Idaho shot 15.4% (2-13) from the three-point line and 23.1% (6-26) from the field. Eastern, on the other hand, shot 22.2% (2-9) from behind the three-point line and 38.7% (12-31) from the field. The Eagles also dominated the boards with 25 rebounds compared to Idaho's 14 rebounds.
At the start of the third quarter, once again Eastern was scoreless for the first three minutes. The Eagles sprang back in the quarter with a six-point run over the Vandals holding Idaho scoreless for over a minute and a half. The Vandals were 0-4 from the three-point line in the third quarter and had six turnovers.
Turnovers and trouble with boards cost Idaho the game. Eastern shot lights out in the fourth quarter and created a bigger safety net for their win. Nonetheless, Idaho still had two athletes reach double-digits with Johnson at 14 points and Phillips at 10. Both teams had 14 turnovers to end the game. Eastern capitalized, scoring 16 points off Idaho turnovers while the Vandals only scored six points off the Eagles.
Vandals will host Idaho State and Weber State on Thursday at 6 pm PST (1/18) and Saturday (1/20) at 5 pm PST in the ICCU Arena.
