The Vandals had a tough enough matchup with a strong UC Davis team that had a strong case for making the NCAA tournament and playing them on the road proved to be too much.
The Aggies (26-6, BWC 14-2) defeated Idaho (19-14, BSC 13-5) 82-62 on Thursday. UC Davis came into the game as a statistically better team on both ends of the floor and they came out and proved those projections.
The Aggies started out strong, finishing the first quarter up 22-14. More importantly, they were able to keep the Vandals from hitting a three in the first quarter and establishing a key part of their offense.
Junior forward Morgan Bertsch gave Idaho fits right out of the gate, putting up 12 points for UC Davis in the first quarter alone. She would go on to lead all scorers with 27 points.
“We got off to a bad start defensively. Not getting back in transition really killed us,” Idaho head coach Jon Newlee said in a news release. “They were running the floor like crazy, especially [Bertsch]. We knew that and our defensive miscommunication really got us in a hole fast.”
UC Davis continued to control the game through the second quarter, but a three from junior guard Taylor Pierce brought the Vandals within 10 halfway through the quarter. The Aggies then clamped back down, finishing the quarter on a 9-1 run while preventing Idaho from making a field goal in the final 4:06 of the quarter to go up 47-27.
The Aggies took advantage of Idaho’s turnovers in the first half and pummeled the Vandals in the paint. UC Davis had 13 points off turnovers and 24 points in the paint to Idaho’s 14.
“I think at the start of the game we had a few players with the deer in the headlights look. I don’t know if they magnified the fact that they were playing in the WNIT,” Newlee said. “When you are playing young players that will happen. I thought those players played better in the second half and as a group, we certainly played much better defense. I was really proud of the effort in the second half.”
Idaho was able to go shot for shot with the Aggies after halftime, but they could not make a dent in the deep deficit they faced.
The Vandals held their ground through the rest of the game, in large part thanks to their veteran leaders. Pierce finished with 19 points on 8-18 shooting and junior guard Mikayla Ferenz contributed 18 points and four rebounds. Pierce added three more 3-pointers to bump her Big Sky record-total to 137 for the season. Ferenz passed Emily Faurholt for the school record for points in a season with 742.
“I’ve never had a better backcourt and what a fantastic year both of them had setting the NCAA record for combined 3s,” Newlee said. “They certainly are the Splash Sisters. There are no ball hogs out there. They did all of this within the confines of our offense and my hat goes off to both of them.”
It was also the last game for senior forwards Nejra Solo and Geraldine McCorkell. Solo led all players with eight rebounds and added four points. McCorkell finished an illustrious career with nine points and 1,552 total in her career, good for eighth on Idaho’s all-time points list.
The Vandals finished the season 19-14 for their third straight winning season and postseason tournament appearance.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker