Idaho women begin defense of Big Sky tournament title on Monday

The road to a possible Big Sky Conference tournament title will be a bit longer this year for the Idaho women.

But at least the Vandals are on the right track.

The defending champions are back in Reno, Nevada, opening Monday against the same Southern Utah squad they beat by 15 on Senior Day three days ago.

Win that one at the Reno Events Center and they should be full of confidence for a Wednesday quarterfinal against an Eastern Washington squad they handled by 24 point two weeks ago.

On top of that, everyone in the field looks beatable. Regular-season co-champions North Dakota and Montana State were 15-3, and 10 of the 12 teams have at least five conference wins.

That’s the good news.

In between those wins, the Vandals (16-13 overall, 11-7 Big Sky) managed to lose games to Idaho State and Northern Arizona that forced them to play in the opening round.

Addressing the rematch with Southern Utah (5-22, 2-16), UI coach Jon Newlee said, “I think it is really important that we concentrate on our effort and energy.

“They have some great players. A lot of it is going to be on us to stop them by doing all the little stuff.”

Idaho swept the two-game series with the T-Birds and has won the last seven meetings.

The Vandals hope for another big game from Karlee Wilson, who flirted with a triple-double while scoring a career-high-matching 19 points.

In the same game, UI held Southern Utah to 0 for 11 from 3-point range, outscoring the Thunderbirds 36-0 from outside the arc.

Idaho entered last year’s tournament as the third seed. The Vandals overcame Sacramento State in the quarterfinals before beating EWU and Idaho State by double digits to advance to the NCAA Tournament.