SUU women's basketball snaps two game skid

Coming off a disappointing four-game road trip that saw the T-Birds go 1-4, the SUU women's basketball team need a win
against in-state rival Weber State but the 72-54 win didn't come as easily as the T-Birds would have liked.
SUU spotted the Wildcats the first seven points of the game and had to battle back against a team that hasn't won a game in nearly a year and a half.
"We were kind of a little bit lethargic," head coach JR Payne said. “We turned it over two or three of the very first possessions, so we have to take care of the ball better.”
Hailey Mandelko led all scores with a game high 18 points on 4-of8 shooting from beyond the arc. Teammate Sofia Hepworth chipped in with the second most points in the game at 15.
Regina Okye led the Wildcats with 12 points and Desiree Romas added 10.
The win SUU improves to 5-7 in conference and moves them back to five hundred on the season at 11-11, overall.
The loss extends the Wildcats NCAA lead losing steak to 41 games. WSU has not won a game since defeating Cal State Bakersfield, 85-72, Dec. 10th last season.
“Even though they are losing, they are a tough, young, and really talented team,” Payne said. “I think Weber State is going to be really good in the future.”
Even with the 7-0 deficit the T-Birds, weathered the storm and took their first lead of the game on a lay-up by Tayler Anderson with 15:12 to play in the first half.
WSU didn’t crumble under the pressure and stayed with the T-Birds, eventually regaining the lead, at 15-13, on a jumper by Desiree Ramos with 13 minutes to go in the first half.
The T-Birds tied the game on the next possession and took the lead a possession latter but the Wildcats would answer with a basket of their own and tie the game at 17 with 10:06 remaining in the half.
The T-Birds took the lead for good two minutes later on a 3-pointer by Mandelko.
“We all just came out with a chip on our shoulders and we were not going to let this one slip away,” Mandelko said.
Despite never taking the lead again the Wildcats kept it tight for the remainder of the first half and cut it as close to one, at 26-25, with 3:56 to go.
The T-Birds responded to the pressure, closing the first half on a 10-4 run capped by a 3-pointer from Andrea Jones with three seconds to play, to take a 36-29 halftime lead.
“They were playing tough and I think we were just going through the motions,” Hepworth said. “We kinda let them push us around a little and then I think we realized we needed to step it up and pick up our effort and intensity.”
When the second half rolled around the T-Birds attempted to close the door again but the Wildcats still refused to go away.
WSU scored the first basket of the second period but unlike the first half instead of settling for jump shots the T-Birds took the ball to the hoop again and again and the move paid off.
SUU went to the charity strip 10 times in the first five minutes of the second half, to turned a five point lead into a double digit blow out.
“Any time your not shooting the ball well you have to get to the free throw line,” Payne said. “We talked about being more aggressive (at halftime), so we were able to execute that, which was good and we needed that.”
The T-Birds cursed from there eventually going up by as much as 19 with 1:39 to play in the game, before settling for the win.
SUU has a quick turn around and will be facing arguably the hottest team in the Big Sky at the moment in Idaho State.
The Bengals head into the contest with the T-Birds winners of six of their last eight games to move from the bottom of the BSC standings to the fifth seed overall.
Tip-off against ISU is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside the Centrum Arena Saturday night.