The University of Idaho Argonaut

It was another disappointing Saturday night in the Cowan Spectrum as the University of Idaho women’s basketball team fell hard to Louisiana Tech 80-55.
The Lady Techsters have the highest winning percentage in the NCAA. This is the sixth season that Louisiana Tech has had double-digit losses. The Vandals have never beaten them, and Saturday night was no different.

The Vandals started off slow in the first half and it was difficult to pick up the intensity. They struggled with shots and didn’t put in a basket until Sara Dennehy scored with 10:32 left in the first half.

“It’s extremely disappointing. I just think we are a better basketball team than what we showed tonight,” Idaho coach Mike Divilbiss said.
The Vandals finished up the half 41-22. They had a shooting average of 24 percent. The Lady Techsters finished up the period with a 61 percent average.

“(The Techsters) don’t shoot the ball very well. They shoot 38 percent as a team and even less than that in the league, and then anything that leaves their hand goes in tonight,” Divilbiss said. “On those nights, you have to learn to play to your level of effort. You can’t let the fact that the ball is going in for them affect your intensity level, and I think it did.”

The second half proved to be a little less disappointing for the Vandals, but what they showed in the second half could not overcome their deficit from the first. In a stretch halfway through the period, the Vandals had a 10-point streak and kept the Techsters from scoring, but their efforts weren’t strong enough. The Vandals finished up the game with a 34.4 percent shooting average and 33 rebounds.

“I am disappointed — we are a lot further along than what showed,” sophomore Katie Madison said. “I guess you learn and grow and take from that what you can and don’t let it happen again.”
Madison led in scoring with 20 points and seven rebounds.
True freshman La’Kenya Simon-West came off the bench hot and stepped up for the Vandals. She finished the game with nine points and three rebounds.

“I have been waiting for my chance and I know coach has been waiting for me to pick it up in practice,” Simon-West said. “I think I have been doing that pretty well and (coach) put me in and I guess it showed.”

Louisiana Tech’s JoKeirra Sneed led the team in scoring with 26 points and eight rebounds. Sneed was followed by Tarkeisha Wysinger, who scored 14 points and grabbed three rebounds.

This loss brings the Vandals to 2 and 20 overall and 1 and 9 in the Western Athletic Conference. The win for Louisiana Tech brings their record to 11 and 12 overall and 5 and 5 in the WAC.
Putting this game behind them, the Vandal women look to capture WAC wins on the road in the following weeks.
Next up on the list for the Vandals is Fresno State on Thursday, followed by a game against Nevada on Saturday. The following weekend the Vandals will face Boise State on Feb. 21 before returning to the Cowan Spectrum on Feb. 28.