The Weber State University women’s basketball team fell short in Wednesday night’s game against the Idaho Vandals at the Dee Events Center by a score of 70-77. This loss was the third loss in a row for the Wildcats.
“With the numbers we have, we can’t afford to play just nine minutes in a 40 minute game against a really good team,” Weber State head coach Bethann Ord said after the game. “I told them in the locker room after the game, we need to play the way we just did for those nine minutes the whole game. That first half was not good.”
The Vandals took the lead early in the game. The first quarter ended 18-12 in favor of Idaho State. The Vandals were lead in scoring by sophomore Geraldine McCorkell, who finished the game with 15 points. Senior guard Connie Ballestero played finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
Weber state struggled getting their shots to fall all night with only a 36 percent of them making their way into the basket. The Vandals would go on another huge 14-2 run to begin the second quarter led by senior Renae Mokrzycki who finished the game with 10 points and two rebounds, all 10 of her points coming from that run. Idaho would end the half with a large lead of 41-25.
The Vandals would continue to build on their lead with a 13-3 run to begin the second half. This run would give Idaho a 20-point lead with a score of 61-41 going into the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats put together a 23-8 run to begin the fourth quarter to bring the game within five points, 69-64, with just under two minutes left in the game. However, their rally was cut short, and the Vandals took the victory.
Weber State was led by freshman Emily Drake. She finished the game with 17 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists. This was a career high in scoring for Drake, as well as her second double double.
“In the second half, we were playing more of our game,” Drake said. “That last 10 minutes, it was important to win that quarter and make it a game.”
Even though Weber State was able to make a great attempt at coming back, Idaho would eventually hold the Wildcats off and complete their road victory 77-70.
Junior guard Deeshyra Thomas also scored 17 points for the ‘Cats with Brittney Dunbar recording six assists. Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman had a career high in scoring with 14 points to go with her eight rebounds.
“It’s good to know that we have that fuel because if the deficit was smaller, maybe we could have gotten the lead,” Welch-Coleman said after the game. “But knowing we have the will power is good to know even though we couldn’t pull the win out.”
The Wildcats face Eastern Washington March 5 at 7 p.m. at the Dee Events Center. This is Weber State’s last home game of the regular season before getting ready for the Big Sky Conference tournament.
When commenting about the upcoming game, Ord said, “I need everyone not to wake up in the second half. You have to be ready from the beginning. And why not start on senior night?”
