Box Score (PDF)
RENO, Nev. (March 6, 2017) – On paper, it looks like just another blowout for Idaho over the lowly Southern Utah Thunderbirds.
But the Vandals’ 83-68 win over the T-birds in the first round of the Big Sky Conference women’s basketball tournament was anything but that. Fifth-seeded Idaho needed to rally from a third-quarter deficit to down the scrappy 12th-seeded Thunderbirds on Monday afternoon at the Reno Events Center.
With second-leading scorer Geraldine McCorkell saddled with foul trouble for the entire game, sophomore guard Mikayla Ferenz came up big with 25 points to spark the Vandals’ comeback.
It was the third quarter that turned things around for Idaho (17-13), which advanced to face fourth-seeded Eastern Washington on Wednesday at 2:35 p.m. PST. The Vandals hit five 3-pointers in the quarter to turn a one-point halftime lead into a 58-53 advantage. Taylor Pierce had all three of her treys in the stanza.
The lead quickly grew to double digits on a 3-pointer from Brooke Reilly that gave Idaho at 69-59 lead with 7:05 to play. The closest the Thunderbirds (7-23) could get was seven points the rest of the way.
The game looked like the runaway many expected in the first quarter as the Vandals made 7 of their first 9 field-goal attempts while bolting to a 20-7 lead. But Idaho made just 1 of its next 12 shots and the Thunderbirds climbed back to tie the game at 30-30 on a 16-foot jumper by Jessica Richardson, who scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half.
Southern Utah grabbed a brief lead at 36-34 on a put-back from Kiana Johnson, but Karlee Wilson swished a trey to give the Vandals their 37-36 lead at intermission.
Reilly and Wilson backed up Ferenz with 18 points apiece for Idaho, which shot 52 percent for the game.
Breanu Reid scored 16 points and freshman point guard Rebecca Cardenas added 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and six steals for the Thunderbirds.