Idaho rallies, drops Lady Griz
12/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Montana jumped out to an eight-point halftime lead, but Idaho outscored the Lady Griz by 21 in the second half to rally for a 69-56 victory Wednesday night at Memorial Gym in Moscow, Idaho. The loss was Montana???s second straight and dropped the Lady Griz to 3-6 on the season.
The Vandals improved to 6-2.
Montana played its best half of basketball this season in the opening 20 minutes, shooting 41.9 percent and turning the ball over just three times to run out to a 36-28 halftime lead.
Sophomores Kenzie De Boer and Alyssa Smith and freshman Lexie Nelson all knocked down 3-pointers in the opening six minutes to spring Montana to an early eight-point lead, 13-5.
The Lady Griz would keep the lead until midway through the second half.
Senior Sarah Ena, who hadn???t shot 50 percent in a game this season, hit four of her five first-half shot attempts to score nine early points.
The Lady Griz had 11 assists on their 13 first-half baskets.
???I can think of maybe one possession in the first half where I thought somebody hurried something,??? UM coach Robin Selvig said.
???It was fun to see, because we???ve been stressing and working so hard. They were playing their match-up zone, but we moved the ball well and got great looks.???
Sophomore Katie Baker hit a jumper just nine seconds into the second half to give Montana its largest lead of the game, 10 points at 38-28.
After an Idaho turnover, Baker missed a jumper that could have extended the lead to 12.
Yinka Olorunnife scored inside on the Vandals??? next possession, and that started Idaho???s slow comeback.
Montana had just enough second-half offense to hold the lead until Derisa Taleni tied the game at 45 with 11:30 to play.
Keri Arendse broke a 47-47 tie with a jumper at the 10:30 mark, and the Vandals led the rest of the way.
???(Idaho was) not making a huge run, but we weren???t making any baskets, so (the lead) piddled away,??? Selvig said.
Idaho hit 15 of its 25 (.600) second-half shots while Montana was shooting 28.1 percent.
The Lady Griz stayed close, pulling within four, 58-54, on a Baker jumper with 4:48 remaining, but pressing to come back Montana went 1 for 9 from the field in the final four minutes.
???We got good shots in the second half, but nobody could make one,??? Selvig said. ???On the road against a good team, 28 percent isn???t going to do it.
???They just didn???t miss any shots in the second half. We still could have won if we could have made some shots, but it didn???t happen. If someone steps up, it changes everything.???
Ena and Baker were effective in the same game for the first time this season.
Ena finished with a season-high 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Baker went 5 for 9 for 10 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
???Sarah really got to feeling it,??? Selvig said. ???Both her and Katie slowed down and were taking good shots. As a result we shot a good percentage (inside).???
Not so for the outside. Montana???s six perimeter players made six baskets on 17.6 percent (6 for 34) shooting.
The Lady Griz went 6 for 16 from 3-point range in the first half but missed all nine of their attempts in the second half.
Idaho???s Rachele Kloke, a 5-11 interior player, came off the bench to lead both teams with 21 points. She went 10 for 14.
???We couldn???t guard Kloke on the inside,??? Selvig said. ???She went around us or went up and shot over our interior kids.???
Olorunnife played all 40 minutes. She finished with 12 points and 18 rebounds.
Montana will host Portland (6-3) Sunday at 2 p.m. at Dahlberg Arena. The Pilots play at Montana State Friday night.
