MOSCOW ? Idaho junior guard Derisa Taleni just kept shooting them and shooting them and they kept falling and falling on Monday night and 31 points later, the Idaho women's basketball team earned its first Western Athletic Conference victory.
Taleni's 31 point outburst ? the best individual scoring performance in the WAC this season ? paved the way for Idaho's 71-63 come-from-behind victory over Utah State. The Vandals move to 4-9 on the season and 1-1 in the WAC, while Utah State slips to 6-8 and 0-1 in the WAC.
Every Idaho player contributed in some way for the victory, as Junior Charlotte Otero dished a season-high-tying six assists, compared to just one turnover, freshman Shaena Kuehu went three-of-four from beyond the arc and finished with 11 points, sophomore Yinka Olorunnife had a solid 11-point, nine-rebound night, sophomore Rachele Kloke grabbed six offensive boards and a career-high four steals and even walk-on Amy Eisses contributed with a pair of steals in seven minutes of play.
“I sat down with each of them this week and we talked about roles going into WAC play and what I expected out of them,” Idaho head coach Jon Newlee said. “I think some of them really took it to heart and I like seeing that ... I thought they did a good job tonight of fulfilling those roles and playing within themselves.”
After a first half in which Utah State was able to work its game in the paint, the Aggies held a 36-28 lead after 20 minutes of play. USU's Lydia Whitehead already had 12 points on six-of-11 shooting, as well as five rebounds, as the Aggies shot .577 (15-26) from the field.
“She was killing us inside,” Newlee said of Whitehead's first half. “She didn't have to think about anything in the first half except making two-footers. We had to get the ball out of her hands and make somebody else make some shots.”
Get the ball out of Whitehead's hands, Idaho certainly did. She attempted just one shot in the second half, grabbed two rebounds and committed four fouls and two turnovers, and the Aggies shot just .345 (10-29) as a team in the second half.
“We just went in [to the locker room at halftime] calmly,” Newlee said. “I've got a great staff and we all talked about what we needed to adjust, then we go in and they adjust it.
“They listened to us defensively, they made the adjustments, relaxed, made some shots and that got everything going.”
Idaho turned it over just three times in the second half, shot a blistering eight-of-15 (.533) from beyond the arc and used a 13-2 run at the 10:09 mark to turn a 49-42 deficit into a 55-51 lead that Idaho did not relinquish. Idaho outscored Utah State 29-14 over the final 10 minutes of the game, 19 of which came from Taleni.
Taleni had hit only eight of her previous 57 3-point attempts on the season for a dreary .140 percentage entering the game, but nailed five-of-six (.833) to give her the WAC's second-best 3-point performance of the year.
Despite having a prolific career as a scorer at the junior college level, Taleni had been unable to break out this season before Monday, and she said the cure was simple.
“I just needed to be Derisa,” Taleni said.
The Vandals hope she can be herself and keep her hot streak going as the team heads to San Jose State on Thursday (7 p.m.) and Fresno State on Saturday (2 p.m.). Both games will be broadcast live on KMAX 840-AM.
