Tag: Idaho
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Zags beat up on Idaho
Photo courtesy of Zach Edwards/Argonaut
Story by Kevin Bingaman/Argonaut
Victory was never in question for Gonzaga as the Bulldogs rolled the Vandal women’s basketball team 91-42 Thursday night in Memorial Gym.
The Vandals came into the game fresh off of a 30-point loss to North Dakota on Monday and things didn’t improve as it was another blowout. Idaho coach Jon Newlee said he hopes playing a tough team like Gonzaga was a learning experience for his players.
“Our players can take away seeing what a top-20 team is like,” Newlee said. “Physically they really took us out of what we wanted to do. They did a great job defensively just taking us out of our spots.”
Even before the game started things were not going Idaho’s way. Starters Krissy Karr and Ganeaya Rogers were both injured at North Dakota on Monday and were unable to play against the Zags. Newlee said their absence was a “killer” as his Vandals had to quickly adjust their roster, putting players in positions they don’t usually play. Senior Adrie Shields said it was a difficult transition.
“I went from a forward to a guard in the space of a week. It was a lot different than I thought it would be,” Shields said. “…I forgot how hard it was to play that many minutes.”
The Gonzaga defense was in Idaho’s face all night and the Vandals struggled to get any sort of offence going. The Zags started the game on a 13-4 run and took a commanding 48-22 lead into halftime. The Vandals did everything they could to hang with Gonzaga in the second half, but the Bulldogs proved to be too powerful and soared to the blowout victory.
Freshman Stacey Barr was the lone offensive bright spot for Idaho as she led the team with 18 points and continues to be impressive. The Vandals shot only 28.6 percent for the game and turned the ball over a dismal 26 times. Shiels said it’s been a rough couple games but said the team’s learned some valuable lessons.
“We’ve learned a lot in those two games and we’ve had a lot of leaps to take,” Shiels said. “…We’ll get there.”
On the Gonzaga side, it was a special night for coach Kelly Graves as he notched his 300th career victory. Graves said it was a special moment, but he gave all the credit to the talented players he’s coached over the years. While it was a one-sided win, Graves said he was impressed with what the Vandal players showed on the court.
“I want to give coach Newlee’s team a lot of credit, “Graves said. “They were obviously shorthanded. He’s one of my favorite coaches and he gets more out of his players than anybody.”
The Vandals will look to snap their current two game losing streak when they travel to the University of Montana to take on the Grizzlies on Sunday. The Griz own a 35-7 overall series record on Idaho, but the Vandals won their lone meeting last season.
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Idaho vs. Gonazaga- LIVEBLOG
Click on this link to follow our live blog of tonight’s action between Gonzaga and Idaho.
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Early trouble
Kevin Bingaman/Argonaut
Three points was all that separated Idaho and Corban University in Saturday’s home opener as the Vandals took a hard fought 77-74 victory that raises some concerns about the rest of the season.
The Vandals could never build a lead as the Warriors came back time and time again. Idaho turned the ball over 17 times against the NAIA foe. Idaho coach Jon Newlee said he was not happy with the team’s performance.
“Pretty ugly game from our standpoint, but I’ve got to give Corban a lot of credit,” Newlee said. “They came in tonight and wanted to win. We didn’t come in focused and ready to play tonight.”
Idaho hit only 36 percent of their shots in the game and only 27.5 percent in the first half. Free-throw shooting was also mediocre for the Vandals. They hit just 15 of 23 from the line. Newlee said he didn’t see the focus in his team.
“That’s something we work on every day,” Newlee said. “Free-throw shooting takes focus and we didn’t have it tonight.”
On the bright side of things for Idaho, freshman Krissy Karr and Stacey Barr continued to impress. Barr lead the team with 20 points while Karr had 23. Karr made one of the key plays in the game late in the fourth quarter. Idaho was up by only one with 39 seconds to go. She intercepted a Corban inbound pass that resulted in a Jessica Graham layup to put Idaho up by three late, which held up in the end. Karr said she feels she needs to be aggressive to prove she belongs as a starter.
“I feel, honestly, that I need to prove myself to a lot of people right now,” Karr said. “Coach has definitely given me the confidence to know that I just need to play my game. It definitely helps knowing that he’s got my back.”
The Vandals will have to catch their focus real quick as they have powerhouse Gonzaga coming to Memorial Gym next Thursday.
Newlee said he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance, but hopes his players learn a lesson about focus.
“You’ve got to play everybody that comes in to the gym and you’ve got to respect your opponent,” Newlee said. “I don’t feel like my team respected those guys tonight and we almost got it handed to us and it was almost a very harsh lesson to learn. As it is, I think we can learn from it in a positive way and figure out what we need to do every night and play hard and play more focused.”
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Idaho close in on second
Kevin Bingaman/Argonaut
Photo courtesy: Spencer Farrin/Idaho athletic media relations
Vandal volleyball boosted its chance for a second place finish in the WAC with a 3-1 victory over Fresno State Thursday.
The win completes the Vandals’ season sweep over the Bulldogs and brings their recent win count to eight of the last 10 matches. The Vandals are still behind New Mexico State for second in the conference as the Aggies won their match 3-0 at San Jose State Thursday. Second place in the conference and a first round bye in the WAC tournament will come down to Saturday’s games.
The Vandals take on Nevada, who they beat earlier in the year, while the Aggies face No. 6 Hawaii, which is unbeaten in conference play this season. Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said she likes her team’s focus.
“They’re locked in,” Buchanan said. “They’ve got goals right now and obviously they want this to happen. We’re in the position to do it, but we can’t overlook the fact that Nevada is a good team, they’re at home and they’re doing some good things right now. ”
Idaho took the first set of the night, but fell in the second. Then came back to win the next two and take the match, but every set was decided by five points or less. Buchanan said her team’s performance at pivotal points was key.
“We got better as the match went on,” Buchanan said. “We didn’t start out the match passing particularly well, but we made key plays when we needed them for sure. We definitely kept them out of system the last couple games and they couldn’t run what they wanted to.”
Buchanan said the team is still committing more errors than she would like, but has the ability to fight back from a point deficit,
“We’re still making our errors, but I feel like they’re locking in and making adjustments better than we did early on,” Buchanan said. “That’s the difference right now. When things get tight or even when we’re down they’re working their way back and they’re fighting through it.”
Senior Alicia Milo and sophomore Allison Walker had solid performances for Idaho. Walker totaled 17 kills while Milo was right behind her with 15.
“We were able to clamp down some at times,” Buchanan said. “Typically we’ve been blocking pretty well. We served a little tougher and kept them out of system to where they could only set the outside or the back row a lot of times, and then we were able to transition and get our middles involved and as a team we just played better as the match went on.”
The big question coming into the last stretch of the season was could Idaho play well enough on the road, after struggling through most of the season, to keep its high position. So far the Vandals have done just that and are one win away from possibly clinching a coveted second place berth in the tournament.
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Highlights from Idaho’s 114-73 win over Willamette University
The Vandals blew past Willamette Saturday night, putting up 114 points in a shootout victory. In case you missed the game, here are some highlights with a sports center-style commentary.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/31761561 w=338&h=256]