The Idaho women’s basketball team found its first win of the season in a dominating performance over Mount Saint Mary’s Friday in Chicago. The Vandals came out strong from the tip off and never looked back in the 81-63 victory.
In the opening game of the Preseason WNIT, the Vandals struggled in the first half at Gonzaga. That wasn’t the case against Mount Saint Mary’s. At one point, the Vandals went on a 12-0 run in the first half to go up 37-21 at halftime. Idaho extended its lead in the second half by shooting nearly 50 percent to seal the win.
“I was really happy with our effort,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “I thought we came out with a lot of energy tonight and got off to that good start. We were really pushing the pace like we wanted to. I loved our start and we talked at halftime about keeping the lead and expanding on it. I thought we did a good job of that in the second half.”
The Vandals were led by senior Alyssa Charlston who recorded 23 points and 11 rebounds for her 20th-career double-double. She is also a perfect 10-10 from the free-throw line on the season.
Charlston’s presence in the middle was needed more than usual against Mount Saint Mary’s. Idaho’s other starting forward, dual-sport athlete Ali Forde, traveled with the volleyball team this week.
“I thought Alyssa could really do some damage inside tonight,” Newlee stated. “They were not nearly as big as the ‘Zags inside. When she goes up against somebody her size or a little bit bigger she has great moves inside and she was then able to step out and hit a couple of three’s and loosen up the defense a little more. They had no answer for Alyssa Charlston tonight.”
Charlston wasn’t the only Vandal to put up double figures on the day. Sophomore guard Christina Salvatore had 12 points for her second straight double-figure game. She also made four 3-pointers for the second straight game. Sophomore point guard Connie Ballestero had a career-high 17 points against the Mountaineers and freshman forward Brooke Reilly added 10 points replacing Forde.
“After we lost to Gonzaga we were like ‘Okay now we are looking for win now,’ and we know we are good enough to get one,” Charlston said. “We just had to figure out what we needed to improve and keep the same intensity we had against Gonzaga. We had contributions from everyone.”
The Vandals are on the court again today to face Loyola at 4:30 p.m. PST in Chicago to wrap up play in the Preseason WNIT consolation round.