Nov. 21, 2009
Final Stats
Boise State Box Score 
Pocatello, ID-- After a tough three-game road schedule to the start the season Idaho State trailed by five with four minutes to go before Boise State took it away at the line to hand the Bengals a 76-60 home opener loss at Reed Gym Saturday afternoon. The Bengals held Boise State to its largest lead of five in the first half, but six treys in the second half and solid free throw shooting would swing the contest in Boise State's favor to end with its largest lead of the game.
"It shows a resiliency in not giving up and coming back from a deficit," said Head Coach Seton Sobolewski of the Bengals competitive nature throughout the contest. "We've got to get to a point where we learn how to build leads and protect leads and go from there, but that's definitely an area of improvement. It was also nice to see our rebounding effort improve. It gave us more opportunities. It's little things here and there that we can see improvement on."
Boise State improved to a perfect 4-0 start to capture its third Big Sky opponent victory, while Idaho State fell to 0-4 for the season. Junior Chelsea Pickering posted a season-high 19 points when she hit 6-of-13 from the field, 2-of-4 from the arc and drowned all five of her free throw attempts. She also posted four rebounds, three on offense, an assist and a steal. Pickering posted two of ISU's three shots made from the arc, one in each half.
Forward Oana Iacovita, a senior, posted her fourth consecutive double-figure point game by notching 12 from hitting 6-of-13 field goals. She was one rebound shy of a double-double as she posted a game-high nine rebounds. Idaho State hit the boards hard to out-rebound its first opponent 43-to-38. The Bengals have struggled most on their offensive boards, but ISU recorded 16 to Boise State's 12 in the matchup.
Idaho State's senior guard Andrea Videbeck recorded a career-high nine points in her first start of the season. She hit 3-of-5 from the field and hit all three of her shots from the line. Videbeck posted a game-high 4 assists, the second time this season. She also posted four rebounds and a steal.
"She [Videbeck] had some good chemistry with Oana (Iacovita) finding her on the high pick and roll," said Sobolewski of Videbeck's career-high performance. "It was good to see that we were able to execute without turning the ball over and hopefully she can build on it. She's coming out of a bit of a funk, she hasn't played competitively Division I basketball for a year so hopefully this kind of game gets her going again."
The Bengals held consistent field goal shooting throughout the game averaging 33.9 percent, but the team struggled around the arc as they attempted to close a widening gap by the Broncos. ISU recorded 1-of-8 treys in the second half for a 12.5 percentage. Idaho State hit 3-of-14 from the arc for 21.4 percent. Boise State improved its three-point average in the second half as they hit six of its eight made treys for 34.8 percent accuracy from the arc.
Boise State's guard Tasha Harris scored the game high 23-points hitting 7-of-18 from the field and 2-of-5 from the arc. She saw the line 10 times hitting 70 percent of her shots, five of her made shots came in the final 1:30 seconds. Bronco Jessica Van Hoogen also posted 20-plus points against the Bengals when she recorded 21 hitting from 6-of-15 from the field, and posting a game-high three treys as well as posting six made free throws. Boise State is the first team to post two players with 20-plus points against the Bengals this season.
Though Idaho State showed improvement the Bengals still need to work on turnovers as ISU posted 23 which gave Boise State 25 points off of the ISU error. Idaho State only scored six points off of the 14 turnovers Boise State recorded.
"We still need to improve on the turnovers; we've got to handle the ball," said Sobolewski. "But I think it's coming from indecisiveness and inexperience with the offense."
Another positive figure for the Bengals is that Boise State only out-scored ISU in the paint by two points, 20-to-18, showing that ISU can compete against more equally match opponents.
Idaho State will continue its stand at home as it hosts Montana Western for the second straight year. The Bulldogs will play the Bengals on Tuesday, November 24 at 7:05 p.m. at Reed Gym for ISU's first home night game.
Notes: Idaho State was perfect from the free throw line in the first half hitting 6-of-6 ... Freshman Shannon Byrne recorded ISU's only blocked shot ... ISU's largest lead of the game was by two with 14:30 on the clock in the first half ... Iacovita and Videbeck fouled out in the remaining two minutes.
