Victory was never in question for the Idaho’s women’s basketball team Friday night when the Vandals subdued Western Oregon in a 93-62 blowout exhibition contest.
Steven Devine | Argonaut
Alyssa Charlston drives to the basket uncontested during Friday’s game against Western Oregon. The Vandals came out on top 93-62 and will face Wyoming at 6 p.m. Friday in Laramie.
It was the first action of the season for the Vandals, who made it to the WAC Tournament semifinals last season. The team returns all but two players from a year ago and looked strong in its debut, dominating in almost every category.
Idaho coach Jon Newlee said he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“I’m happy with the effort. The intensity level was up,” Newlee said. “Obviously it’s the first exhibition game, so your execution isn’t going to be near where you want it, but overall I was happy that everyone came in and contributed in some way.”
Junior Alyssa Charlston, who was an all-WAC selection a year ago, shredded the opposition with a perfect eight-for-eight shooting performance from the field. Charlston ended the night with 21 points, 15 of those coming in the first half.
Charlston said it felt good to start quickly, especially since a year ago she struggled at the start of the season.
“It’s nice because I did have a really rough beginning last year and was really inconsistent, so I’ve come into this season with a little more confidence and wanting to take on more of a captain role,” Charlston said.
The Vandals will begin the regular season Friday when they travel to take on Wyoming for the start of a tough nonconference schedule for the Vandals. Charlston said the exhibition game is good to get the team going, but Friday will be a different story.
“It gets us on the court, but Wyoming is a whole different team,” she said. “It’s going to be a totally different environment.”
Western Oregon hung with Idaho through the first five minutes of the game, but the Vandals pulled away after that and had a double-digit lead seven minutes in. Idaho built on the lead the rest of the half and went into halftime with a 46-26 lead. The Wolves fought back to start the second half, but Idaho once again found its rhythm and cruised to the victory.
The one category the Vandals were lacking in was rebounding. Idaho out-rebounded the Wolves 43-36, a statistic Newlee said Idaho has to improve on.
“I was disappointed with our rebounding effort,” Newlee said. “They didn’t have a lot of size. I thought our blocking out was horrible, to be honest. It’s something we have to get better at.”
The Vandals played a number of freshmen and included two — Ali Forde and Connie Ballestero — in the starting lineup.
“I was really nervous out there at first, and I talked to a couple of my team mates and they said not to be nervous and that I’ll be fine,” Ballestero said. “Once we got going we were just fine.”
Ballestero finished the game with 12 points and went 2 of 3 from the three-point line.
The Vandals showcased an up-tempo offense in the game, using their speed to create chances, which is what Newlee said he wanted to do going into the season.
Ballestero said the offense is all about flow and recognizing what’s open and what’s not.
“We’re good team players,” Ballestero said. “We know when to shoot and when to pass it, when it’s open. We’re pretty good at recognizing that kind of stuff.”
Kevin Bingaman can be reached at [email protected]