Women's basketball falls to Idaho

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
Women’s basketball team falls to Idaho, 79-71

By Adam Ide

            The University of Northern Colorado women’s basketball team lost a hard-fought game Thursday, falling to Idaho 79-71 at Bank of Colorado arena.

            The Vandals had three players in double figures, with Mikayla Ferenz, one of the top scorers in the nation, leading the way with 33 points. Geraldine McCorkell had 22 and Allison Kirby had 11.

            The Bears also had three players in double figures, led by senior guard Savannah Scott’s 15.

            “It felt like half of our offensive sets we just did not get into the right flow and miscommunicated what play we were in,” Scott said. “It just came down to us making a play when we needed to.”

            Sophomore center Bridget Hintz started her first career game for UNC in place of the injured Courtney Smith.

            “We were just struggling to get into our sets and to make the right reads on offense tonight,” Krystal Leger-Walker said, who had 12 points of her own. “It was on us and our execution leading to the struggles.”

            The game was close throughout. Idaho led 19-17 at the end of the first quarter, highlighted by Ferenz’s 11 points. IU carried a 36-34 lead into the half.

            “I think we get impatient on offense and try to get something going too early in the shot clock,” head coach Kamie Ethridge said. “Idaho will sag off a player to clog the paint to stop you from penetrating and we just over-penetrated at times.”

The two teams combined for 49 points in the third quarter, with the Vandals leading 61-58 after three quarters of play.

            The game had 10 ties and 10 lead changes, with neither team being able to separate themselves from the other. That was until the fourth quarter, however, when Idaho used a 7-2 run to put away Northern Colorado.

            With the win, the Vandals improve to 9-10 overall, 5-3 Big Sky. Despite the loss, the Bears still own an impressive 13-6 record on the season, and are also 5-3 in conference play.

            UNC’s homestand continues Saturday when they take on Eastern Washington at 12 p.m.