Jan. 2, 2010
Final Stats
Montana State Box Score 
Bozeman, MT - Idaho State (6-8, BSC 1-0) opened Big Sky play with a thrilling 77-73 overtime victory over Montana State (8-7, BSC 1-1) as senior Oana Iacovita led the Bengals with a career-high 31 points putting away her final shot at the line at the Worthington Arena on Saturday night. Junior Chelsea Pickering posted a season-high 24 points and senior Andrea Videbeck recorded her second straight double-double with 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
"This is a huge win for us, to come out with a `W' on the road is big for our confidence," said Head Coach Seton Sobolewski. "We feel that Montana State is one of the best teams in the conference and they might be the team to beat this year, so to come in and beat them at their place means a lot. It gives us some good momentum going into the conference season."
Idaho State opened with a 9-2 lead, but the contest would go back and forth with ISU never leading by more than a handful of points. Montana State who came off an 82-62 home victory over Weber State the night before posted its largest lead of four with 1:34 left in the first half. Idaho State took a one-point lead heading into the break when Iacovita hit a jump shot with nine seconds left to give ISU a 35-34 lead heading into the break. She posted 15 of her points in the first half alone.
Iacovita hit 13-of-20 from the field and 4-of-7 from the line as well as her only three-point attempt to reach her career-high. She also posted five rebounds and two assists.
"Oana did a nice job tonight," said Sobolewski. "We got her the ball and she scored consistently down there, she also did well defensively and on the boards."
The Bengals never trailed after the break and recorded its largest lead of eight-points with 6:05 left in regulation. Montana State went on a 10-2 run to tie up the game at the line with 63 apiece from a Katie Bussey free throw. The Bobcats would tie the score two more times including two driving layups from Erica Perry who had an answer for nearly every ISU shot in the second half.
Perry was held to six points in the first half by Videbeck, but was on a hot streak in the second half where she scored 16 of her 24 points. Perry would force a one-on-one layup to tie the game at 67 apiece.
Idaho State had a few opportunities to close in the final seconds of regulation. Videbeck would cut under the basket and threw a pass out to the wing which was stolen by Bussey, however senior Devin Diehl would steal it back and hand it off to Videbeck who would throw up a shot in the final seconds, that wouldn't drop sending ISU to overtime.
The overtime period was a close battle as each team would fight for a one point lead until Iacovita's 31st point of the game off the tail end of her free throw attempts gave ISU a 74-72 lead with 1:29 remaining. The game would fall back into the hands of Videbeck, this time at the line as she convert 3-of-4 to give ISU its four-point, 77-73, victory.
Videbeck's 11 points which tied her career-high achieved in ISU's last contests against Great Falls included a 5-of-6 effort from the line. Junior guard Pickering recorded a season-high 24 points putting away 10-of-27 from the field.
"Chelsea performed very well tonight," said Sobolewski. "She was really good in some one-on-one opportunities."
Idaho State outscored the Bobcats 10-6 in overtime handing ISU its first overtime win of the season after falling to Utah 66-50 on the road earlier in the season. Idaho State's strong defensive effort and quick hands earned ISU eight steals and caused 21 MSU turnovers to convert for 16 points.
The Bengals will continue its road swing at Montana on Monday, January 4 at Dahlberg Arena where Idaho State has only posted one victory in the history of the program. Tip-off begins at 7:05 p.m.
Notes: ISU outscored Montana State 44-to-36 in the paint ... MSU outrebounded ISU 51-to-48 ... Pickering was a perfect 3-of-3 from the line ... Montana State hit 5-of-23 from the arc for a 21.7 percent accuracy ... ISU ties Montana for first place in the conference rankings with a 1-0 record each.
