Idaho was down by two when sophomore Alyssa Charlston drove the lane as time ticked off the clock. She dished the rock to freshman Krissy Karr who drained a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining and a 1-point advantage to seal the 87-86 overtime victory against Nevada in Reno Saturday.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Vandals (9-18, 4-7 WAC) who are now a San Jose State loss away from jumping into No. 5 in the conference. Idaho also avenged its previous loss to the Wolf Pack earlier in the year. For Nevada (5-20, 1-9 WAC) the nightmare season continues. The Wolf Pack are far behind the competition and in last place.
Idaho coach Jon Newlee said it was a battle all the way through and he’s proud of the way his team pushed to the end.
“What a special win here,” Newlee said. “I’m just so proud of my team right now. What a great job by everybody — total team effort tonight.”
Nevada started the game on fire and was quickly up 8-0, but the Vandals fired back to take the lead with 10 minutes to go in the half. The teams exchanged blows for the rest of the half with the lead changing multiple times. Nevada’s Arielle Wideman buried a three as time expired to give the Wolf Pack a 38-34 half-time lead.
The Wolf Pack came out of the locker room much like they did in the first half and quickly established a lead. Nevada raised the lead to 11, but once again the Vandals answered with a run of their own. Neither team was able to pull away down the stretch, setting up an exciting finish.
With the score tied at 71, the Vandals had a chance to win the game as time expired, but couldn’t finish a layup, sending the game to overtime.
As in the two previous periods, Nevada started strong with a 10-2 run, but the Vandals countered yet again. Karr hit a three to tie the game 84-84 with 15 seconds left, but a foul sent Nevada’s Kate Kevorken to the charity strip where she made both attempts.
With time quickly expiring, Idaho got the ball back to Charlston who found Karr open. Karr connected on the three, giving Idaho a one-point lead with two seconds on the clock. Nevada’s Amanda Johnson’s hail-Mary attempt was off the mark, netting Idaho the win.
“I was pretty excited,” Karr said. “I didn’t know if it was going in or not when it left my hand, so to see it go in was pretty exciting for me.”
To make it an even more special night for Karr, her parents were in attendance.
“It was pretty awesome,” Karr said. “The first thing I did when I got out of the locker room was run out to them and they were pretty proud of me.”
Newlee said his team executed during pivotal moments.
“That was unbelievable,” Newlee said. “So many twists and turns down the stretch. We ran the end-game plays to perfection. Down the stretch with no timeouts they know what we want. Alyssa made a great pass. I told Krissy strongly at halftime that she needed to be taking her shots and I’m glad she listened. What a couple of clutch shots from a freshman.”
Charlston and senior Keri Arendse both finished the game with 21 points. Nevada’s Kayla Williams led all scorers with 23.
Next up for Idaho will be a trip Saturday to Logan, Utah, to face Utah State. The Aggies are No. 2 in the conference and beat the Vandals 78-70 in the Cowan Spectrum earlier this year. The Vandals will then finish out the regular season with a two-game home-stand.
Idaho has shown itself to be a resilient squad all season and was able to come back three times against Nevada. Charlston said the team stays positive even when things aren’t going well.
“I think it’s exciting how many times we’ve surprised ourselves this year,” Charlston said. “…I think the fact that we’re young helps us be so resilient and so believing. Anything can happen and we’re very positive.”
Kevin Bingaman can be reached at [email protected]