As Winter Break started for University of Idaho students, the women’s basketball team stuck around to close out its main slate of non-conference games against Grand Canyon and Saint Martin’s University. The Vandals fell to GCU in overtime but came out on top against the Saints in regulation.
Grand Canyon
When the Vandals and Lopes matchup, fans know that they’re in for a show on the court. Idaho won 81-78 in overtime in Arizona last season, but GCU pulled out the OT win this time around.
Sophomore forward Sarah Brans was one of just three Vandals to play against GCU in both 2022 and 2023. She put up an empty stat line in two minutes last season but had a huge impact this time around.
“As a returner, I’m obviously someone who’s kind of looked to for support with everything. I’ve taken on that role of being the support system for the team, giving whatever I can for the team,” Brans said. “That’s what I tried to do today, that’s what I try to do every game.”
Brans finished the game with 12 points, going 3-for-7 overall, 2-for-4 from three and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. She also had six rebounds and three assists.
Outside of Brans, it was graduate student guard Amalie Langer and junior guard Kennedy Johnson doing what they could to win. Langer finished the game with 13 points and three rebounds while Johnson pulled down 10 boards, got three blocks and added eight points.
While the Vandals lost the game, they showed a lot of improvement coming out of the locker room. For just the second time this season (against a D1 opponent), they dominated the third quarter. After struggling offensively in the first half, Idaho went on an 18-point run and won the third quarter 21-9.
“In the second half, we made a little bit of an adjustment offensively to let our kids make some reads, and I think that was helpful for us, but really, it was just our kids starting to be aggressive rather than letting that pressure disrupt and get us out of our stuff,” Head Coach Carrie Eighmey said.
However, winning one out of four, or in this case five, quarters doesn’t usually equal a win. Idaho was close, but the afternoon was spoiled by junior guard Naudia Evans.
Evans put up 13 points, five assists, four rebounds, one steal, one block and the game-winning layup. She put up almost the exact same numbers last season but had five more points and didn’t have the block.
As the Vandals continue to search for that elusive D1 home win, they’ll need to improve at not allowing points off turnovers. Heading into this game, Idaho had lost the points off turnovers margin in every home game against D1 opponents except for the game against Cal Poly.
“Taking care of the basketball and taking great shots helps us make sure that we’re allowing our defense to get set, making them score against us in the halfcourt,” Eighmey said.
After a tough overtime loss, Idaho looked to get back in the win column against D2 opponent, Saint Martin’s University.
Saint Martin’s
While the Vandals have yet to get a home win against a D1 opponent, they are 2-0 against lower-division opponents after beating Saint Martin’s 63-44 on Dec. 19. Idaho will look for back-to-back wins for the first time since the Bank of Hawaii Classic as they take on Sacramento State on the road to open conference play on Dec. 28.
This was a big game for the Vandals as thousands of elementary students from the Moscow area filled the stands (UI students should take notes from these kids on how to fill the student section). With 2,155 people in the stands, the students set the record for the most attended game in ICCU Arena so far.
While it was a historic day for attendance, it was also a career day for Kennedy Johnson. She put up a career-high 20 points, going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc and 7-for-11 overall. She also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out four assists.
The next highest scorer for the Vandals was sophomore guard Ashlyn Wallace, who likely had a lot of fans in the stands as she hails from Lapwai, Idaho. She finished the game with eight points, three rebounds and two steals.
Although Idaho came out on top and dominated in almost every facet of the game, they still gave up a lot of points off turnovers. The Saints forced 17 turnovers and got 12 points off them. Idaho won the margin, scoring 16 points off 15 turnovers, but the Vandals will need to do better with their transition defense going forward.
Luckily for Idaho, it starts conference play against Sacramento State, which currently sits at 1-7. The Hornets are in a similar situation to Idaho with a basically whole new team and coaching staff, but their schedule has also been a lot more difficult as they’ve only played D1 teams.
On top of Sac State coming in with a lackluster record, they also have the worst offense, eighth-worst defense and worst point margin (-16.9) in the Big Sky. Meanwhile, Idaho has the fifth-best offense, best defense and third-best point margin (7.8) in the conference.
The Vandals will hope to pick up their first road win against the Hornets since Feb. 22, 2020, when they won 96-88, on Dec. 28 at 6:30 p.m. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on X @jamesaldrich25