A third straight game of 20 points or more from senior gaurd Stacey Barr and an 11-point halftime lead wasn’t enough for the Vandals, as the Montana Grizzlies edged Idaho 87-74 Saturday afternoon at the Cowan Spectrum.
The Vandals will look to end this losing streak on Thursday, when they travel to Oregon to take on Portland State.
Idaho came out firing on all cylinders in the first half, and led by as much as 12.
The hot offensive start, sparked by a 7-10 first half shooting performance from Barr, was a far cry from what the Vandals did in their 76-65 loss on Thursday night to Montana State.
“We were moving the basketball, everybody was getting their touches,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “That was our offense we were looking for on Thursday, I can tell you that.”
The Grizzlies came out in the second half fired up, as they began the half with a 6-0 run.
“Once they went on that run, we needed to stop and make our own run (but) we didn’t, which was disappointing,” Barr said. “That first four or six minutes was what kind of killed it for us.”
Sophomore post Brooke Reilly was able to end the run with a post-up bucket.
After shooting 60 percent from the field in the first half, Idaho shot only 25 percent in the second. Montana, on the other hand, went from 41.8 percent to 48.3 percent in the second half.
“We kind of went away from what we were doing in the first half,” Newlee said. “In the first half we were sharing the basketball… We built the lead and then too much one-on-one. We aren’t a one-on-one team.”
Along with Barr’s 27 points, the Vandals also had two other players in double figures. Junior post Ali Forde chipped in with 10 points and freshman post Geraldine McCorkel added 13 points off the bench.