Kevin Bingaman
Argonaut
The Vandal women’s basketball team couldn’t quite get it done on the road at Louisiana Tech, falling to the Techsters 66-54 in the WAC opener.
The loss extends Idaho’s (5-12, 0-1 WAC) losing streak to five games as the Vandals dropped another tough game and still have never beaten the Techsters (8-8, 1-0 WAC). in program history. The losing streak has come on a number of close games. The Vandals have been able to hang with teams, but just can’t get over the hump for a victory. Idaho will get the chance on Saturday to snap the streak when they stay on the road a New Mexico State.
The Vandals come out sluggish and found themselves with a 13 point deficit at the half. The Vandals then gave up a 9-2 run to start the second half to dig themselves into a hole. Idaho coach Jon Newlee said he wasn’t happy with his team’s demeanor out of the locker room.
“We came out intimidated,” Newlee said. “They really came out intimidated and that disappoints me. We talked at halftime about not being scared and just playing ball, and you see what happens when we did that at the start of the second half.”
To Idaho’s credit, the Vandals didn’t go down easily. Idaho started to put it together and cut the lead to six at one point, but the Techsters went on a run late in the half to put the Vandals away.
Turnovers continued to be an issue for the Vandals as they turned it over 23 times in the game. Louisiana Tech also helped their cause with 15 blocks in the game, just shy of a Techster record. La Tech’s bench was also a big factor in the game, scoring 37 points for the Techsters.
Sophomore Alyssa Charleston and Freshman Stacy Barr were the only two Vandals in double figures on the night. Barr had 11 points while Charleston claimed her fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Despite the unimpressive record, the Vandals are a young team that has been looking better as the season has progressed. Louisiana Tech has been the WAC powerhouse in Women’s basketball and the fact that this game was as close as it was should be encouraging for Vandal fans. Newlee said he was happy with the way his defense played.
“I thought our defense was outstanding to go out there and play 40 minutes man-to-man against Louisiana Tech,” Newlee said. “We knew we had some good looks that just weren’t going down early on, but our free throw shooting has got to get better. It was just a lack of knocking down some shots, one person getting hot and it’s a different ballgame.”
The Vandals will play their first home conference game next Thursday against Nevada.