March 5, 2005
Box Score
Bozeman, MT--Molly Hays recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds and three other Bengals scored in double figures as Idaho State cruised to a 72-59 victory Saturday afternoon at Worthington Arena in Bozeman, Montana.
With the win, Idaho State wraps up regular season play with a 12-15 overall record, 7-7 in Big Sky play. Montana State is eliminated from next week's Big Sky Tournament and finishes the season at 9-18 overall, 3-11 in league play.
"This is a good win for us today," said ISU head coach Jon Newlee. "It's some great momentum going into the conference tournament next week."
Montana State hit three straight shots from beyond the arc to build an early 9-0 lead, but ISU battled back to snag the lead 30-29 at the five minute mark on a Hays jumper. The Bengals went into halftime with a 38-34 halftime lead.
The Bengals extended the lead in the second half outscoring the Bobcats 34-25 to take the 72-59 win on the road.
After shooting a season-low 27 percent from the field against Montana on Thursday, ISU was back to form, connecting on 37 percent of its shots from the field and 37 percent from three. The Bengals shot 52 percent from the field and 60 percent from beyond the arc in the first half.
"We found our shot again," Newlee said. "We did a nice job of knocking down the open shots, especially in the first half. It's nice for our players to know they can go and shoot well on the road. We really needed to shoot well heading into the Big Sky Tournament next week."
Hays scored her 13 points on 4-of-8 shots from the field, 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Chelsey Chambers tied a season high with a team-high 16 points. The junior forward connected on 4-of-6 shots from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point range. Chambers hit 6-of-8 free throws and pulled down five rebounds.
"I thought that was Chelsey's best game of the season," Newlee said. "It was nice to see her take shots with the confidence she did today. She played like she always does in practice. She knocks everything in practice, and she was doing it for us today."
Christa Brossman added 12 points for the Bengals, while India Soo added 10.
Alyssa Nelson led Montana State with 13 points. The Bengals head Big Sky leading scorer Katie Burrows to just nine points in 19 minutes of play.
The Bengals have solidified the fifth seed at next week's Big Sky Tournament. The site of the championship will be decided tonight depending on the outcome of two league games.
