Historic tournament run ends in a Bulldog mauling

RENO, Nev. — After five years of futility, an Idaho Vandals basketball team finally made it to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals — just two wins away from a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

Unfortunately for Idaho’s women, after a decisive quarterfinal win over New Mexico State on Wednesday, they ran headlong into the WAC’s hottest team, and the improbable dream was over.

The fourth-seeded Vandals fell to No. 1 seed Fresno State, 80-66, ending a season that saw Idaho’s women endure a two-win non-conference campaign before coming together for a historic trip deeper into the WAC Tournament than any Idaho team has ever gone. Idaho finished the season with an 11-20 record, 8-8 in conference play. The Bulldogs advanced to the tournament championship, where they’ll play Louisiana Tech tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Idaho coach Jon Newlee credited Fresno State with taking the fight right at the Vandals, but considers the season a success for the way his team responded to the adversity it faced early on. Last year’s leading scorer Derisa Taleni was lost to a season-ending injury in preseason practice, and her absence was a big reason the team suffered 11 non-conference losses, including a six-game losing streak.

“After a really bad start to the year, to fight back the way we did, to finish fourth in the WAC and get the first ever WAC Tournament win for this team, it’s tremendous for our program,” Newlee said. “Fresno State is an extremely talented basketball team that will go a couple rounds in the NCAA Tournament if they get the right draw.”

But Newlee had harsh words for the game’s referees, who he said were biased against his squad.

“Today was probably one of the most horrendous, one-sided jobs of officiating that I’ve been involved in, and I’ve been involved in a lot of postseason tournaments in my 22 years,” Newlee said. “It was absolutely horrible, and I’m embarrassed for our league, embarrassed for our kids that we had to go and be subjected to that. Fresno State doesn’t need any help, they’re good enough on their own. It was just bad officiating and I’m not happy about it.”

Shortly after the postgame press conference, Newlee was publicly reprimanded by WAC commissioner Karl Benson for violating the league’s sportsmanship code.

Vandal Nation Live in Reno: (4) Idaho vs. (1) Fresno State

RENO, Nev. — On Wednesday night, Idaho’s women made history, becoming the first Vandal basketball team to advance to a Western Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal game.

Today, they face that challenge — against a No. 1-seeded Fresno State squad that hasn’t lost a game in WAC play this year.

Powered by guard Jaleesa Ross’ unconscious shooting, the Bulldogs have been the class of the conference all season long, and destroyed the Vandals last time out in Fresno. Charlotte Otero, Yinka Olorunnife and the rest of the Vandals will no doubt be out for revenge.

Complete pregame coverage begins at 11:30 a.m., with tipoff at noon.

Click here for Vandal Nation Live commentary, analysis and chat!

History made as Vandals take down NMSU, head for WAC semis

RENO, Nev. — Since Idaho joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2005, neither the men nor the women had ever advanced past the quarterfinals in the conference basketball tournament. Excepting a pair of play-in game victories, the WAC Tournament represented an unbroken streak of futility for the Silver and Gold.

No more.

Led by a pair of double-doubles from stalwart starters Yinka Olorunnife and Shaena Kuehu, the Vandal women pulled away from New Mexico State late in the second half to secure a 75-63 victory over the Aggies in WAC Tournament quarterfinal action at the Lawlor Events Center. The fourth-seeded Vandals now advance to the semifinals, where they’ll face No. 1 Fresno State at noon Friday.

“This is a big win for our program and I’m proud of this whole team for gutting it out, hanging tough and getting the win,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “I know this means a lot to everyone, but particularly for Charlotte (Otero), who can cap off her senior year with some success in the tournament.”

Idaho and New Mexico State traded the lead back and forth throughout the first half, though the Vandals had to crawl out of a 7-point deficit early. After that, neither team could gain more than a two-possession advantage, and it took Bianca Cheever’s baseline jumper with 3 seconds on the clock to give Idaho a two-point edge into the locker room.

In the second half, the Vandals twice made bids to control the game. Idaho opened on a 6-0 run to push the lead to 8, keyed by buckets from Kuehu and Olorunnife. But the Aggies responded with an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game, with Tabytha Wampler and Jasmine Lowe earning 3-point plays. With 12:17 to play, Crystal Boyd’s free throw gave NMSU a one-point lead — but it would be their last.

That’s because Olorunnife chose that moment to take over the game for Idaho. She drilled a jumper to put the Vandals back in the lead, dished up to Kuehu for a 3-pointer and then canned a trey of her own — Idaho by seven, 10:32 to play.

New Mexico State wasn’t done, though. For the next eight minutes, both teams turned the Lawlor hardwood into a 3-point shooting gallery. Lowe drilled a three — Otero responded likewise. Danisha Corbett knocked down back-to-back shots from long range, putting the Aggies within a point of tying the game. Right-back-atcha came Otero and Cheever to keep Idaho ahead, and time was running out for New Mexico State. A deep dagger from Otero and two free throws from Olorunnife with a minute left sealed the Aggies’ fate.

“Every time they made a run, one of these guys right here (Kuehu, Olorunnife and Otero) made a big shot to keep us in front, and I thought it was important that we keep the lead down the stretch,” Newlee  said. “It just seemed like big shot after big shot. They’d hit one and then we would.”

Vandal Nation Live in Reno: (4) Idaho vs. (5) New Mexico State

RENO, Nev. — In the Vandals’ five years in the Western Athletic Conference, no Idaho basketball team has made it past the tournament quarterfinals.

That could be about to change.

This afternoon, the fourth-seeded Vandals square off against the fifth-seeded New Mexico State Aggies in a battle royale between a pair of squads that have no love lost between them. The winner goes on to the WAC Tournament semis.

Jon Newlee’s squad has made a miracle turnaround, after losing star guard Derisa Taleni to a preseason injury and winning just two non-conference games. Led by Shaena Kuehu, Rachele Kloke, Yinka Olorunnife and Charlotte Otero, the Vandals have taken down NMSU the last four times the teams have met. Can they make it five? We’ll find out.

Complete pregame coverage begins at 2 p.m., with tipoff 30 minutes later.

Click here for Vandal Nation Live commentary, analysis and chat!

Louisiana Tech spoils Senior Night for Vandals

This isn’t how Charlotte Otero hoped her senior night would be.

“It felt good to break my career high and knowing that I went out and gave it my all,” Otero said. “Of course, it would have been a lot better to have won — it was our first time on national television and we know what we are capable of, we just didn’t take it all the way.”

The Idaho Vandals fell behind early to Louisiana Tech and couldn’t pull out a win despite drawing within seven points during a 20-5 run late in the game, dropping the contest 63-56.

“Our shot selection was horrendous,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “We are not a team that can play one-on-one basketball.”

Wednesday night’s game was the last home game for seniors Otero, volleyball star Debbie Pederson, Amy Eisses and soccer sensation Anna Sandman. Pederson walked onto the team in the middle of the season and has been a steady contributor for the Vandals, while Sandman came to help with practice.

Otero, who has been the heart and soul of the Vandals in her four years at Idaho, dropped a career-high 18 points, dishing out six assists and grabbing four rebounds in her final home game.

“She was the best player on the floor on both teams,” Newlee said. “She played with a lot of heart, a lot of energy, made her shots, handled the ball and got assists, got some steals – she was all over the place.”

The Vandals got a scare early in the game when sophomore Shaena Kuehu was knocked down, hitting her head hard on the court. Kuehu remained lying on the court for half a minute as the crowd watched in muted dismay before erupting in cheers as she got up and walked to the bench, by her own power but clearly in distress.

She was forced to sit out the remainder of the first half, and much of the second before making a late-game comeback.

“I didn’t figure she would be back tonight — I thought ‘oh man, please, please let her be ready to go in the WAC tournament.’” Newlee said. “She has a huge knot on the back of her head, but lucky no concussion symptoms.”

Kuehu’s injury was followed by flat play from the Vandals, which opened the door for a 15-2 La Tech run in the middle of the first and set the stage for a 22-point lead, which was simply too big for the Vandals to overcome.

The bitter loss was partially redeemed by strong play from Bianca Cheever. Cheever played a strong defensive games, but it was back-to-back three-point shots which has Newlee excited.

“It was nice to see her make a couple of shots,” Newlee said. “There was the Cheever we saw earlier in the year — hopefully that Cheever gets on the bus and the airplane to Reno with us.”

Otero said that, while the loss stings, she is proud to have gone out in such style and been a part of the Vandal tradition.

“I’m really thankful that I had the opportunity to stay here,” Otero said. “When the coaches came in, they still stuck with me and gave me a chance — I’m just really glad to be a part of the Idaho history.”

For Newlee, the feeling is mutual.

“I’ve never had a kid practice and play as hard for as long as she has. She has done everything I’ve asked her to do and more — we are going to miss her, ” Newlee said with a deep breath and a composing pause. ” I wish I would have been here…I wish we had one more year with her.”

Vandal Nation Live: Idaho vs. Louisiana Tech

It’s Senior Night for the Vandal women, and they’re on national television for the first time ever. Live on ESPNU, Idaho takes on Louisiana Tech in a key battle down the stretch of the Western Athletic Conference regular season.

The Vandals have won three straight games and five of their last seven, to put them at 7-7 in the WAC — in sight of a top-half seed for next week’s conference tournament. But to get there, they’ll have to get past the always-tough Lady Techsters.

Will Charlotte Otero have a magical Senior Night in Moscow? Find out with us, as we’ll have all the action for you live, with pregame at 7:30 p.m., tip at 8.

Click here for Vandal Nation Live commentary, analysis and chat.

Vandal Nation Live: Idaho vs. New Mexico State

We’ve got a full day of Idaho basketball action on tap, and it starts with the Vandal women in a Western Athletic Conference matinee showdown against New Mexico State at 3 p.m.. The men square off against Long Beach State immediately after the women finish.

The Aggies are 6-6 in conference play, sitting in fourth in the WAC standings. Idaho is 4-7, in seventh — a victory this afternoon would put the Vandals just half a game back from Boise State with four contests remaining.

In the two teams’ previous meeting, Idaho upset the Aggies in Las Cruces, 68-65. Jon Newlee’s squad, led by Charlotte Otero, Rachele Kloke and Yinka Olorunnife, will look to repeat the feat on home hardwood.

We’ll have pregame coverage starting at 2:30 p.m., tip at 3.

Click here for Vandal Nation Live commentary, analysis and chat!

Vandal Nation Live: Idaho vs. Hawaii

Idaho’s women are back in action at home today, as the Cowan Spectrum hosts a matinee showdown with the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine.

Yinka Olorunnife, Charlotte Otero and Rachele Kloke are starting to get things together, but they’re coming off a blowout loss at the best team in the WAC, Fresno State. Can they rebound and defend home court? Join us and find out!

We’ll have pregame coverage at 1:45 p.m., tip at 2.

Click here for Vandal Nation Live commentary, analysis and chat!

Idaho 84, Boise State 81

Red-hot shooting and a stout defensive effort carried the Idaho women to an 84-81 overtime victory tonight over hated downstate rival Boise State.

The win, just the third of the year for the Vandals, was boosted by a career night from post Yinka Olorunnife, who scored 25 points (tying her career high) to go with 10 rebounds. The Vandals shot 50 percent from beyond the arc overall, and were a lights-out 8-for-11 at one point in the first half.

We’ll have a complete postgame story shortly, but for now, here’s video interviews from after the game.

Olorunnife and point guard Charlotte Otero:

Coach Jon Newlee:

Vandal Nation Live: Idaho vs. Boise State

It’s time for the intra-state grudge match to be renewed once again, as Charlotte Otero, Yinka Olorunnife and Shaena Kuehu lead the Idaho Vandals women’s basketball team against downstate rival Boise State tonight in the Cowan Spectrum.

We’ll have all the action for you from courtside, with pregame coverage at 6:30 p.m., tip at 7.

Click here for Vandal Nation Live commentary, analysis and chat!

Portland 67, Idaho 56

Idaho made it close in the second half, but bigtime buckets from the Pilots and easy layups blown by the Vandals made it another disappointing finish. Portland defeated Idaho, 67-56, in Memorial Gym tonight. The Vandals fell to 1-9 on the season, while the Pilots improved to 6-3.

It might have been the most complete game for the Vandals, but yet again they couldn’t close the deal. They performed particularly well, though, given the absence of two starters: point guard Charlotte Otero and post Yinka Olorunnife, who were suspended by coach Jon Newlee for unspecified conduct detrimental to the team.

Jessica Graham led the Vandals with 18 points on 7-14 shooting, grabbed 6 rebounds and made 3 blocks.

We’ll have a complete postgame report tomorrow.

Vandals come close, but can’t recover from early deficit

Coming off a road win, Idaho women’s basketball coach Jon Newlee expected his team to continue their new-found scoring and defensive effort. Newlee got his wish, but only after a sloppy first period doomed the Vandals’ chances of victory. Idaho fell to Colorado State, 65-55, in Memorial Gym.

“We lost the game in the first ten minutes,” Newlee said. “It’s frustrating — we lost track of their shooters and played tired.”

Idaho’s offensive struggles were on display early in the first half, shooting for 32 percent. The Vandals (1-6) managed to take the lead in the first minutes of the game, but a defensive collapse led to turnovers and fast-breaks which Colorado State (5-2) took full advantage of.

The Rams shot a staggering 55 percent from the floor, including sinking seven 3-pointers to put them up 41-26 at the end of the first half.

“We didn’t find their shooters, we didn’t sprint back in transition, and they were hitting wide open 3′s,” Newlee said. “When you go down 18, it’s a big hole to come back from.”

Despite the deficit, the Vandals came out charged and ready in the second half. Led by Yinka Olorunnife — who set a career record in blocks with 5 and contributed 9 points as well as 6 rebounds — Idaho rattled CSU into shooting just 21 percent from the floor in the second half.

Olorunnife took charge in the second half with aggressive play on both ends of the court. On defense, Olorunnife blocked five CSU shots, including a spectacular rejection of a 3-pointer late in the second half with the Vandals trailing by just two, which was met with loud cheers and a standing ovation from the crowd.

With strong defensive pressure, the Vandals pulled within two points with five minutes remaining, but ran out of steam in the final minutes, giving up back-to-back 3-pointers to CSU.

“We got aggressive and found their shooters, and got all the way back — we were right there, but then we give up two 3-pointers,” Newlee said. “We can’t take plays off, everybody has to contribute and everyone has to come ready to play — until we do that we aren’t going to get many wins.”

Newlee was particularly happy with Olorunnife’s performance in the game. She showed flashes of her old game, Newlee said, but rolled her ankle right when she was playing her best.

Olorunnife said she has been off her game lately, but was happy to get back into the groove.

“The first few games, I’ve been having a hard time,” Olorunnife said. “Things just weren’t going my way, but I finally relaxed and started to play basketball without thinking too much.”

Newlee was also impressed with Charlotte Otero’s performance, as well as three-point extraordinaire Bianca Cheever, who nailed 4 of 8 3-point attempts during the game.

The Vandals held Mountain West Conference-leading scorer Kim Mestdagh to only 11 points, but CSU did what good teams do and fielded other players to pick up the slack. With double-coverage on Mestdagh, CSU’s Bonnie Barbee found room to maneuver and made Idaho pay by going a lights-out 6-of-8 from downtown and putting up 20 points to lead the team.

Idaho was led by Rachele Kloke, who found room in the second half and put up 16 points to lead the comeback.

The second half showed Idaho’s talent, but Newlee said it’s hard to dig a hole and expect to come back from it.

Newlee will have one full day to motivate the team to a strong start against Wyoming, which comes into Memorial Gym unbeaten. Wyoming’s multi-pronged attack, led by four scorers averaging double-digit points per game, will be a huge test for an Idaho defense which has been enigmatic at times. It will be the fifth game for Idaho in seven days. That contest tips off Thursday at 7 p.m.

Eastern Washington capitalizes on poor shooting, turnovers to down Vandals in OT

For a span in the second period, it looked like the Vandals had solved all their shooting woes. Idaho led by 12 points with under seven minutes to go and had the game firmly in control — then reality took over.

“We lost that game in the first half with our offensive execution and, once again, our missed point-blank shots,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “There were seven missed layups that we charted in the first half.”

The Vandal’s recovered from an ugly first half, where both teams combined for an astounding 42 missed shots and 19 turnovers, to get into shooting form for the majority of the second half.

The Vandal’s combined for just 15 points in the first half, but Eastern Washington didn’t fare much better, putting up only 17 points themselves.

“It was a miracle that we were only down by two at halftime,” Newlee said.

Good Afternoon Vandal Nation: Nov. 18, 2009

It’s another edition of our daily links roundup, again pretty slow because of a football bye week and because of academic stuff. However, tomorrow Vandal volleyball plays its final home game of the season, the grudge match against Boise State.

Basketball

• We took a look at the Vandals’ backcourters, breaking down a deep group of guards.

• Shawn Harrison of the Logan Herald-Journal previews tonight’s Utah State/Utah intra-state battle. The Aggies will be looking to make it two straight WAC victories over the Utes.

• The Spokane Spokesman-Review’s Dave Trimmer features Idaho ironwoman Charlotte Otero.

• BleedCrimson.net’s Sam Wasson has the word from Las Cruces, where the New Mexico State Aggies went down to defeat again, nearly giving up triple digits to the arch-rival New Mexico Lobos.

• The Refraction makes its WAC picks for tonight.

• Hoops IQ picks the Vandals second-best in the WAC, behind only the Blue Aggies.

Football

• The Reno Gazette-Journal’s Dan Hinxman says the Wolf Pack hope to erase the memory of last year’s upset at the hands of New Mexico State. He also features Nevada’s senior-laden offensive line.

• Louisiana Tech freshman safety Chad Boyd was suspended by the WAC for half a game for a helmet-to-helmet hit on an LSU receiver last weekend.

• The Idaho Statesman trashes the University of Idaho again, as Tim Woodward says Boise fans are perfectly behaved, while Moscow fans are uncouth jerks.

Good Morning Vandal Nation: Nov. 6, 2009

If you’re a Vandal sports fan, you’ve got to be on cloud nine right now. There’s three games in the next 36 hours — men’s and women’s basketball tonight, football tomorrow. We’ll bring it all to you right here at Vandal Nation.

Vandal Nation Live will have play-by-play coverage of every game:

• Women’s basketball vs. Eastern Oregon, pregame at 5:30 p.m., tipoff at 6.
• Men’s basketball vs. St. Martin’s, pregame following the women’s game, tipoff at 8.
• Football vs. Fresno State, pregame at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, kickoff at 7:30.

Coming today, we’ll preview this week’s WAC football action and continue our Vandal Spotlight series with point guard Landon Tatum.

Vandal volleyball is on a hot streak, as the women knocked off Louisiana Tech last night to notch their sixth straight win. Idaho is now guaranteed a berth in the six-team WAC Volleyball Tournament.

Now for your morning links.

Football

• We’ve got our Better Know a Foe report on Fresno State, with Fresno Bee reporter Daniel Lyght.

• The Argonaut’s Jennifer Schlake previews tomorrow’s Idaho/Fresno State battle.

• The Fresno Bee’s Bryant-Jon Anteola takes a look at the Vandals’ gridiron resurgence.

• Lyght listens in to Idaho coach Robb Akey’s radio show.

• ESPN’s Graham Watson says Louisiana Tech has a “monumental challenge” on its hands tonight vs. Boise State.

• The Spartan Daily has a video preview of Sunday’s San Jose State/Nevada matchup.

• The Vandals will get manhandled by the Bulldogs, Sports Illustrated writer Stewart Mandel predicts.

• How bad are things for Hawaii football? The Honolulu Police Department has taken to cracking jokes at the Warriors’ expense, Honolulu Advertiser writer Curtis Lum reports.

• The Logan Herald-Journal’s Wade Denniston looks at this week’s Utah State/Hawaii battle.

• New Mexico State needs to make good use of its bye week, the Las Cruces Sun-News’ Teddy Feinberg blogs.

Basketball

• We previewed tonight’s men’s hoops exhibition game vs. St. Martin’s.

• I’ve got a profile of the Vandals’ senior point guard Charlotte Otero in The Argonaut. Ilya Pinchuk previews the women’s exhibition against Eastern Oregon.

• The Sports Network joins the chorus and predicts Idaho to finish fourth in the WAC.