Although the Vandals came away with the loss against the Bengals, 67-73, at least there is the positive of clinching the first overall seed in the conference tournament.
Idaho (19-10, BSC 16-4) had a tough time with Idaho State (20-9, BSC 15-5), but before tipoff, seniors Mikayla Ferenz and Taylor Pierce were honored in their final home game as they were joined by their families and had a touching video thanking the coaching staff, teammates and the fans.
But after the festivities and starting lineups, both teams took the floor for the ‘Battle of the Domes’ for what turned out to be an intense matchup.
“I our execution as a whole tonight, offensively, wasn’t very sharp,” head coach Jon Newlee said. “Tough, physical basketball game.”
Idaho State came into Cowan Spectrum as the best defensive team in the Big Sky, holding its conference opponents to below 60 points a game and shooting below 40 percent from the field.
Idaho came in a bit slow, getting a free throw before Idaho State would open a 12-0 run. Idaho had a tough time getting shots to fall early, going 5-17 from the field and was behind 18-13 going into the second quarter.
The Vandals were able to pick up their scoring, but the Bengals were able to knock down their shots, going well over 50 percent.
The second half was more of the same, Idaho able to make some runs offensively, but Idaho State was able to get some stops, along with sporting an impressive shooting percentage.
Idaho had a chance down the stretch with just under a minute remaining, down just two points.
But the three from Pierce was no good, instead going to Idaho State, who knocked down its free throws and also get one last layup to pad the lead while time expired, coming away with the 73-67 win.
There were positives to take away from the game though, with Ferenz not only going a perfect 5-5 from behind the arc, but also joining Pierce as the 6th member of the 400 career three pointers club for Division one women’s college basketball.
Idaho also clinched the out right regular season championship, with Northern Colorado losing to Northern Arizona, and clinching the first overall seed going into the conference tournament.
“It’s great and I told our team that our goal was to be the outright champions and get the number one seed going in (to Boise),” Newlee said. “No matter how it ends up, we did it, we won the Big Sky… you hat to go into the post-season with a loss, but as long as you learn from it, then we will benefit from that.”
Idaho’s seniors came away from the game, having a combined 43 points and shooting a combined 8-16 from the 3-point arc.
The Vandals will have a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
Idaho plays the winner of Northern Arizona-Sacramento State 12 p.m. MST Tuesday
Zack Kellogg can be reached at [email protected], [email protected] and on twitter @kellogg_zack.