Dec. 29, 2009
Final Stats
Great Falls Box Score 
Pocatello, ID - Senior Oana Iacovita led the Bengals with 19 points and senior Andrea Videbeck recorded a double-double when Idaho State rolled past Great Falls 86-42 in its final non-conference game of the season at Reed Gym Tuesday night. Idaho State ended the non-conference season 5-8 record while Great Falls fell to 3-9 and 0-2 in exhibition games.
"The big emphasis was that we wanted to keep a high level of play. We want to be consistent regardless of if we play an NAIA school or a Big Sky or Pac-10 school," said Head Coach Seton Sobolewski. "We want to play the same level every game."
The 44-plus margin victory ties for the sixth largest margin of victory in school history, which last occurred when ISU defeated Montana State 101-57 in 2005. Five Bengals posted double-figures in points for the first time under head coach Sobolewski led by forward Iacovita who scored 19 points hitting 8-of-13 from the field as well as 3-of-4 from the line. She also recorded four rebounds and four steals.
Senior guard Videbeck recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 assists. Her 11 points tied her career-high and her 10 assists set it. Videbeck hit 5-of-7 from the field as well as a trey. Her game-high six steals helped ISU pick the pockets of the Argos 22 times in which the Bengals converted into 42 points. ISU caused Great Falls to turn over the ball 34 times.
"Videbeck did a nice job in transition she made good decisions in getting the ball to people. That is one of her strengths is passing and ball handling," said Sobolewski. "She can really take care of the ball and distribute and she's a good decision maker when she is confident and feeling good."
Junior guard Chelsea Pickering and freshman forward Ashleigh Vella recorded 11 points each for the Bengals. Freshman guard Brea Matthews chipped in a career-high 10 points, all in the first half hitting 5-of-6 from the field.
The Bengals had their best shooting night of the season hitting 51.4 percent (38-of-74) as well as their best defensive effort holding Great Falls to 26.9 percent (14-of-52). Idaho State led into the half up 24 points with 42-18 on the scoreboard.
"Our goal was to maintain our level of scoring in the second half and a little better and we also wanted to hold them under 20 points in each half which we were close to achieving. I'm very proud that we met our goals," said Sobolewski.
Idaho State jumped out early with a 20 point lead in the first 11:10 holding Great Falls to four points at 24-4. The Bengals continued to maintain control from there peaking at their largest lead of 49 points with 1:19 left in the second half.
"We let our defense dictate our offense," said Sobolewski. "I didn't want to slow it down and let them use their trap the whole night. "I wanted our defense to be aggressive and get steals that turned into transition opportunities."
The Bengals strong defensive effort allowed Idaho State to create opportunities to steal the ball for easy lay-ups. Idaho State recorded 42 points off of Great Falls' 34 turnovers which turned into 18 points off of fast breaks.
Great Falls was led by forward Kirilyn Winkler who posted nine points as well as posting four rebounds. Forward Stasia Holden recorded a game-high nine rebounds to help the Argos edge out the Bengals 42-to-38 in rebounds.
Idaho State will open Big Sky and the New Year at Montana State on Saturday, January 2 at Worthington Arena. Tip-off begins at 7:05 p.m.
"I didn't want to look past the next game so we didn't talk much about Big Sky opponents with the players, but now we are in a position to talk about Big Sky opponents and we definitely want to keep that level of intensity that was brought tonight and take that into conference play," said Sobolewski.
Notes: Idaho State's 5-8 non-conference record heading into Big Sky play is its best under Sobolewski as the Bengals posted a 3-10 record at the start of the 2008-09 season heading into league play ... ISU's 86 points is the most points in a game scored for the Bengals under Sobolewski ... Kari Green and Rayneiqua Edwards both scored their first career field goals ... Shannon Byrne recorded a career-high eight points hitting 4-of-7 from the field in 12 minutes ... Videbeck's six assists was a career-high ... ISU posted a season-low ten turnovers while recording a season-high 22 steals.
