Nov. 29, 2008
Final Stats
Complete North Dakota State Box Score 
Los Angeles, CA--Idaho State was overcome as they had trouble getting to the inside dropping a 68-55 decision to North Dakota State for a fourth place finish at the Loyola Marymount Ayres Hotel Thanksgiving Tournament at Gersten Pavilion Saturday afternoon. North Dakota State improves to 2-3 on the season. The Bengals end their seven straight games on the road with a 2-5 record.
The Bengals largest lead was by one point off of a jumper by senior Michelle Grohs at 5:27 left in the first half. ISU trailed 32-27 at the break and cut North Dakota State's lead to just three points on two separate occasions. Unfortunately, Idaho State was unable to hold on and ended with NDSU's largest lead of 13 points at the end of the game.
ISU was overcome by North Dakota State's inside game as NDSU scored 32 points from the paint to ISU's 18. The Bengals had a difficult time getting the ball inside to their forwards and when ISU charged the basket, their physical stature was simply not enough to offset the Bison as the Bengals saw the free throw line just nine times the entire game, and four times in the second half alone. North Dakota State played a physical game drawing 19 fouls and sinking 16 of their 24 attempts, more than twice as many looks as Idaho State.
Junior Oana Iacovita had a solid second half effort as she scored 12 of her 13 points. She posted her third double-double of the year, her second consecutive, as she also pulled down 14 rebounds. Iacovita was 5-of-10 from the field and 3-of-5 from the line. She led the team in blocked shots with three.
Grohs led the team with 16 points as she shot 7-of-10 from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 from the arc. She also recorded two rebounds, both on defense. Iacovita, Grohs and sophomore Verity Peets were the only Bengals to see the free throw line. Junior Devin Diehl was 2-of-6 from the field and 1-of-2 from the arc to put down five points in 19 minutes of play for the Bengals before leaving the floor due to an injury.
The Bengals continue to outshoot their opponents from the arc as ISU posted 6-of-11 for 54.5 percent to NDSU's 4-for-12, 33 percent effort. ISU out rebounded the Bison 18 to 16 in the second half, but overall grabbed two fewer offensive rebounds, 9-to-7, as each team recorded 23 defensive rebounds. The Bengals out blocked their opponents 4-to-3, with Iacovita recording three and Peets posting one.
The Bengals will return to action in their first home game of the season against Montana Western on Wednesday, December 3 at Reed Gym. Tip-off starts at 7:05 p.m.
Notes: Freshman Sheila Adams made her starting debut and posted five points ... Chelsea Pickering and Jenna Brown both fouled out ... NDSU had 12 steals to ISU's nine ... ISU recorded 19 turnovers while NDSU posted 18 ... Brown recorded a game-high seven assists.
