W. Basketball: Underclassmen Shine

Freshman guard Mikayla Ferenz fights through the Northwest Christian defense on Wednesday in the Memorial Gym. The Vandals won 71-48 bringing their record to 6-1.

The Idaho women’s basketball team’s fast start to the season cannot be attributed to just one player.

Freshman guard Taylor Pierce and sophomore post Geraldine McCorkell have emerged as two of the team’s top offensive threats in the opening games of the season.

Pierce led the Vandals with 16 points in the Vandals’ 71-48 win against Northwest Christian Wednesday night at the Memorial Gym, bringing Idaho’s record to 6-1. Twelve of those 16 points came from behind the 3-point arc.

McCorkell scored 24 points against Iowa State Saturday in Cancun, Mexico, and Pierce led with 27 points. Pierce set a school record with nine 3-pointers in that game.

Instead of defaulting to one player to score points, as was often the case when Stacey Barr played at Idaho, the Vandals have distributed the points more evenly this season.

Barr averaged 21 points per game last season and ended her career with 74 3-point shots made.

Against Iowa State Saturday, six different players contributed to the 17 3-pointers scored.

Idaho is ranked second in the Big Sky Conference with 79 points per game and has outscored opponents by an average of 21.3 points per game.

A high-scoring offense combined with a steadily improving defense has helped the Vandals to their 6-1 record.

They held Northwest Christian to six points until three minutes into the second quarter, bringing the score to 22-8. Idaho led 38-16 at halftime, holding Northwest Christian to 26.1 percent from the floor.

The Vandals play Wyoming at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Cowan Spectrum.

Tess Fox can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @tesstakesphotos

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