CALDWELL, Idaho - The College of Idaho women’s basketball team overcame a horrible night shooting with great defense and hard-work rebounding to win a second straight, besting league foe Northwest Christian 72-63 in a non-conference tussle.
“When everything else fails, you can always hustle, that’s never something you should have a bad game at,” said C of I guard Kayla Brewer, who hit a clutch 3-pointer late to ice the win. “That’s one thing we can resort to when our shots aren’t falling.”
For the second straight game shots didn’t fall for the Yotes (2-1), who won their home opener Thursday over Concordia-Irvine despite shooting 37 percent. Saturday’s stats were worse as C of I hit just 23-of-77 (29.9 percent), yet won the battle on the boards 52-39, including 29-10 on the offensive end, and forced 27 turnovers.
Coach Reagan Rossi said part of the problem might have been a very busy week, as the C of I opened the season on Oct. 31 in Salt Lake City, played an exhibition against NCAA Division I Weber State on Monday, then traveled home for the two weekend contests. “We missed 18 layups, it’s going to hurt,” Rossi said. “When you work that hard and get possession, maybe it’s the energy, the adrenaline rush, but we still need to maintain our composure.”
The Yotes did at critical moments, inching out to an 18-14 lead on a Christon Vander Esch bucket midway through the first half, and regrouping from a 24-20 deficit after a Callie McVicker triple as Vander Esch hit two free throws, then Katie Strunk and Megan Hughes each tossed in a bucket. Up 28-26 at the break, the Yotes tried to break free early in the second half as Nicole Gall hit a 3-ball and added a 12-footer in a 10-2 push, and a Nicole Bruce 3-point play made it 45-36. But the Beacons hung around as shots refused to fall for the Yotes, eventually grabbing a 52-51 lead on an Emily Gray bucket with 5:59 to play.
“We let them take us out of our tempo, out of our style,” Rossi recalled telling her team at halftime. “They definitely we’re taking us out of our game and people have been trying to do that to us. It’s how we adjust and how we respond.”
C of I answered by attacking the bucket, getting to the free-throw line to help power the offense as Katee Brewer hit two freebies and Hughes added two more, sandwiched around a Katee Brewer trey. In all, the Yotes sank 10-of-14 freebies after the Beacons took that brief lead. And Kayla Brewer added a big 3-pointer — despite the off shooting night — with the shot clock winding down, putting the C of I up 68-60 with 56.4 seconds left.
“I saw the shot clock going down and I was open, so I shot it,” she said.
Bruce led the way for the Yotes with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Vander Esch, Gall and Hughes each scored 10 in the win.