Jan. 2, 2005
Box Score
Lubbock, TX--Even without two of its top players, Idaho State became just the sixth team this season to score 50 or more points against 13th-ranked Texas Tech Sunday in an 86-52 loss at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas in front of 12,421 Lady Raider fans.
"Scoring 50 points on a team like Texas Tech is pretty good," said ISU head coach Jon Newlee. "With that said, I'm still disappointed in how we started the game. I just thought that a couple of our players didn't come to play. We gave up too many easy buckets in the paint."
After being down by 32 points, 47-15 with 5:51 remaining in the first half, Idaho State settled into its offense and played well defensively, going on a 10-4 run to cut the lead to 24, 53-29, at the half. The Bengals then held the Lady Raiders to 35 percent from the field after shooting 56 percent in the first half. Texas Tech scored 33 points to ISU's 23 in the second half to take the win.
"I thought we settled in and finally played like we know we can at the end of the first half," Newlee said. "That play carried over into the second half. We did a better job of blocking out and doing a lot of the little things that we didn't do for most of the first half."
Molly Hays led the Bengals with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shots from the field, 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Hays also tallied nine rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 40 minutes of play. Andrea Sivakova helped ISU with nine points and six rebounds, while Camile Michaelson added eight points.
"Molly just did a great job today," Newlee said. "She is absolutely a great player. I don't use those words very often, but she deserves it. She comes to play every single day, no matter who the opponent. She gets after it every day."
Idaho State held Texas Tech's leading scorer Alesha Robertson (15.9 ppg.) to just five points on 2-of-10 shooting. Chesley Dabbs led Texas Tech with 18 points on 8-of-17 shots from the field. Three others scored double figures for the Raiders.
ISU finished the game shooting 35 percent from the field compared to Texas Tech's 46 percent. ISU committed 17 turnovers, while Texas Tech tallied just nine. The Raiders out-scored ISU 42-24 in the paint.
"Texas Tech is a great team," Newlee said. "They are one of the top-10 teams in the nation for sure. I'm proud of our effort tonight. I liked how we attacked. We never folded, never gave up, and for that I am very proud of our team. We played hard."
The Bengals will close out their non-conference schedule at home with Utah Valley State (1-11) on Tuesday at Reed Gym. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday.
