The Idaho women’s basketball team is returning home with two road victories this week. The Vandals will look to keep moving up the rankings as they take on Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona.
Northern Colorado
Idaho will face the Northern Colorado Bears on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. The Vandals used a big first quarter to defeat the Bears 60-56 down in Greeley and look to get the same result as last time.
“It’s one of those games where anytime you get off to a start like that right, there’s going to be a counter, there’s going to be some adjustments, and they did a good job of that,” Head Coach Carrie Eighmey said about the last game. “I thought we made some mistakes in the third quarter. That stretch of probably four or five minutes where we struggled to score. So obviously, we want to avoid that.”
Sophomore forward Aniah Hall hurt the Vandals last game with 19 points, with senior forward Delaynie Byrne and senior guard Hannah Simental being held to below double digits. Byrne is the leading scorer for the Bears, averaging 13 points and seven rebounds a game.
Hall has helped the Bears with 12 points and six rebounds per game. The Vandals held on for dear life for three quarters after busting the game wide open in the first quarter. This time around, the Vandals will be put to the test in a building that they haven’t been the best in.
Northern Arizona
Saturday, Feb 24, at 2 p.m., the Vandals will welcome first-place Northern Arizona to ICCU Arena. The Lumberjacks defeated the Vandals 65-53 in Flagstaff behind a suffocating defense.
“NAU plays so fast. They come at you in the first eight seconds, and part of that is if you’ve never seen it before, it’s a little bit shocking,” Eighmey said. “So, I think one of the benefits is the second time your players have played against it, they felt it (and) they’ve experienced it.”
The Lumberjacks are led by MVP front-runner sophomore guard Sophie Glancey, who tortured the Vandals with 23 points in the first meeting. Glancey, an Idaho native, averages 19 points and seven rebounds a game and is playing the best basketball of her young career.
Junior guard Leila Beattie has helped Glancey and the Lumberjacks with 13 points and five rebounds per game. The Vandals, led by junior forward Kennedy Johnson with 13 points and seven rebounds, will look to get their offense going early.
Idaho will have their hands full, especially down low. “I think in both games, us being able to handle the things that happened in the paint are going to be important,” she said.
With the Big Sky tournament approaching, the Vandals have no room for error, and playing in a building where they are 3-9 is going to be a tall order. However, the Vandals will look to get their win streak to four and have some momentum going into their last road trip of the season next week.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on X @JaydenBarfuss10