Jan. 8, 2009
Final Stats
Complete Eastern Washington Box Score 
Pocatello, ID--Idaho State defended their house by holding Eastern Washington to a 25 percent shooting average in the second half, allowing only six field goals, to overcome the Eagles 71-54, a 17 point lead at Reed Gym Thursday night. The Bengals improve their spotless Big Sky Conference record to 2-0 and improve to 5-10 for the season. Eastern Washington fell to 7-9 and dropped the Eagles to 2-1 in conference play.
The Bengals began play on an even stance with Eastern Washington as the score swung back-and-forth displaying all five tied scores and all 12 lead changes. Idaho State went on an 11-4 run to head into the break with a six point lead at 35-29.
Idaho State's defensive work in the second half followed by one of the Bengals best offensive performance of the season led ISU to success. ISU had an answer for every shot the Eagles took in the start of the second half doubling their offensive success by scoring 20 points to EWU's 10 over a period of 10 minutes. ISU largest lead came at the 8:40 mark when the Bengals were up by 19 from a jumper by junior Iacovita.
"The girls are smart. They are patient and we ran, and we scored on back door stuff and slips and moved the ball making a second and third pass when the time is not running out," said head coach Seton Sobolewski. "I think that shows another thing about our team. That when we pass, when the shot clock is winding down we would panic and someone would turn it over. Now it's okay we've made the pass, we've made the next pass, now we can make a good shot. It shows that they are improving."
For the first time this season the Bengals had four players in double-digits with senior Jenna Brown leading with 19, followed by Iacovita with 18, senior Michelle Grohs with 13, and sophomore Chelsea Pickering with 12 points.
Brown posted a career-high 19 points hitting 4-of-11 from the field and 2-of-3 from the arc. She earned nine of her points from the free-throw line, and was a perfect 8-for-8 at the half. Brown's drive and kick spread opened up the floor for her teammates to share the action. Brown had four assists on the night from her aggressive play while Pickering led the game with five-assists and four steals, a career-high.
Pickering played well on the offense and defense recording 12 points as she was 4-for-9 from the field, 2-of-5 from the arc and a perfect 2-for-2 at the line. Defensively the guard helped hold sophomore Eagle Kyla Evans, to seven points, a player who normally averages 11 points.
Eastern Washington's Julie Piper who nearly averages a double-double was reduced to five points and only four rebounds. Idaho State kept Eastern Washington to 35.4 percent from the field goal for the night and kept its opponent to 6-of-20, 30 percent, from the arc. Fouls late in the second half allowed EWU to reduce the 19-point gap as they went 11-of-14 in the second half, having made only three of their six shots in the first half. The Bengals had the reverse experience seeing the line more at the front of the game where ISU was 13-of-16, then went 3-of-6 in the second half for an overall 72.7 percent accuracy.
The Eagles had two players in double-digits with Brianne Ryan and Tatiana Sparavalo each recording 10 points. Ryan was perfect from the field and the arc going 4-for-4 from the field and 2-for-2 from the arch. She also recorded six rebounds, three on offense, and a steal. Sparavalo was 3-for-6 from the field, 1-for-1 from the three-point range and 3-for-4 from the line.
Senior Grohs had a solid first half earning 11 of her 13 points. In the first half alone she was 4-for-5 from the field, 1-for-1 from the three-point range and 2-for-2 from the line, she also recorded six rebounds. Iacovita took over where Grohs left off and lit up in the second half scoring 12 of her 18 points. The junior forward was 8-for-12 from the field attempting only a single three-pointer. Iacovita also pulled down six rebounds, three on offense.
The Bengals posted its fewest number of turnovers this season with 10 while Eastern Washington recorded 15, however the Bengals made the most of EWU's turnovers as ISU would slow down the tempo and wait for an appropriate shot to record 17 points off of Eagle turnovers while EWU earned only nine points.
Idaho State has found the matchups in Big Sky Conference play more to its liking as ISU was able to get inside the basket with less effort than some of its non-conference opponents. Idaho State outscored Eastern Washington in the paint 30-to-12.
The Bengals will host Portland State on Saturday, January 10 at Reed Gym. Tip-off starts at 2:05 p.m. Portland State (3-0), Montana (2-0) and Idaho State (2-0) are the only teams posting undefeated records in Big Sky Conference play to date.
