With this Idaho team, sometimes all it takes is one run to set the tone for the game. The Vandals erased any doubt of victory right after the opening tip.
Idaho (16-9, BSC 13-3) won 77-49 against Southern Utah Saturday afternoon. The win keeps the Vandals entrenched in first place in the Big Sky.
The Vandals established dominance early, going on a 10-2 run to close out the first quarter at 26-11. The offense slowed a little in the second quarter, but Idaho’s defense locked down the Thunderbirds, giving up only seven points in the quarter on 2-15 shooting from the floor.
“The effort was fantastic team-wide today,” said head coach Jon Newlee. “Our ball-screen defense was spectacular during that quarter and our post players did a great job of getting back in transition.”
By halftime, Idaho led 40-18 and never looked back.
Senior guard Taylor Pierce led all players with 22 points and she sparked the Vandals with a 3-3 start from 3-point range through most of the first quarter. She also hit a buzzer-beating three off the backboard to end the first half to sink any hopes of momentum for Southern Utah going into the break.
“I didn’t know it was going to bank, otherwise I would have called it,” Pierce said. “We’ve really focused on executing our game plans this week and it’s shown for the most part.”
Pierce and senior guard Mikayla Ferenz played fewer minutes than usual in Idaho’s fourth game in the past seven days. Neither played 30 minutes, but their lessened usage on the court opened up opportunities for Newlee to showcase the depth of his roster.
The Vandals held at least a 20-point lead for the entirety of the second half, and freshmen Janie King and Hailey Christopher each logged at least 12 minutes on the court. Christopher tied for the lead in blocks with three and King hit a three with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter to briefly push Idaho’s lead to 30.
“The girls that don’t always get to see the court really showed out today and all that work they do in practice really showed.” said Pierce. “I was really proud of the work they did today.”
Southern Utah double-teamed Ferenz throughout the game, but Idaho’s all-time scoring leader still filled the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. She is now 13 points away from cementing her place in history as the Big Sky’s all-time leading scorer in women’s or men’s basketball.
“She so unselfish on and off the court,” Pierce said. “She knows that teams will try to shut her down and she doesn’t force any shots and she had a ton of great passes today to show that.”
Freshman guard Gina Marxen added 15 more points on 5-8 shooting from beyond the arc and led all players with six assists. She was also integral in Idaho’s fast-paced domination, with the Vandals tallying 16 fast break points to Southern Utah’s zero.
“They usually score so much in transition so to see that we held them to zero fast break points, so if you hold these guys to that, you’ve got a pretty good chance of winning the game,” Newlee said.
Up next, Idaho will travel to take on Portland State at 7 p.m. Thursday Feb. 23.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker