Jan. 23, 2010
Final Stats
Portland State Box Score 
Portland, OR - Idaho State held a two-point lead going into halftime, but a strong second half offensive effort by Portland State, outscoring the Bengals 41-23, would hand ISU a 61-45 loss at the Peter W. Stott Center on Saturday night. Senior Andrea Videbeck recorded a game-high 18 points, while senior Oana Iacovita chipped in eight points and recorded a game-high 11 rebounds. Portland State improves to 11-9 for the season and 5-2 in Big Sky play to capture second place rankings in the conference while the Bengals (9-11, 4-3 BSC) fell to fourth place in the standings.
"I thought (Andrea) Videbeck offensively did a nice job. She hit some tough shots. She was aggressive offensively, but our defense was very solid," said Head Coach Seton Sobolewski. "Portland State helped us out a little bit by missing some perimeter shots but we kept it at the pace we wanted to keep it at. We controlled the ball for a large portion of each possession. It was very solid in the first half and we were fresher than the second half. The second half we started making more mental errors. I feel like it was tied to fatigue."
Senior guard Videbeck recorded 12 of her 18 points in the first half. It is Idaho State's second straight game where a Bengal recorded a game-high but did not end the contest victorious. Videbeck also ended her 22 consecutive free throws made streak when she missed her first attempt at the line. Her streak dated all the way back to January 4 on ISU's second Big Sky Game of the season at Montana. She was 4-of-6 from the line for the night.
Idaho State had a strong defensive effort against the Vikings in the first half holding Portland State to 20 points for the Vikings second lowest scoring first half of the season. In the first half Idaho State had a 10-0 run holding Portland State scoreless for six minutes to hold a seven point lead with 12-5 on the board. Videbeck recorded six of ISU's ten points in the run.
The Bengals posted its largest lead of nine points with 3:05 remaining in the first half off a Videbeck trey. Portland State went 0-for-8 from the arc in the first half. The Vikings would then record a 7-0 run after ISU's largest lead to end the first half, but PSU still trailed the Bengals by two, 22-20, going into the break. Portland State would record four offensive rebounds in the final minute of the first half earning its only three second chance points of the half.
The Vikings would record nine of its 16 offensive rebounds in the second half where they earned ten points off of its second chances. The Bengals only capitalized for two points off of their 13 o-boards for the game. Portland State would shoot 52 percent (13-of-25) from the field in the second half to improve its overall effort to 43.5 percent for the game. Idaho State shot just 26.9 percent (7-of-26) in the second to have the Vikings outscore ISU 41-23.
"Portland State definitely stepped it up in the second half," said Sobolewski. "They had us turn the ball over a few more times. They found a weakness and started going inside. That's where they really hurt us. They outworked us to a lot of loose balls and offensive rebounds and that made a huge difference. We did a good job having them miss shots, but then we didn't collect the rebounds."
Portland State had two players' record double-figures in points with junior Kellie Valentine and senior Erin Yankus posting 10 points each. Sophomore Katy Wade recorded a game-high 10 rebounds. The Viking's leading scorer Claire Faucher, who averages 16.2 points in league action, 15.3 for the season, was held to just seven points hitting only one field goal for the contest. Her only shot away from the line was a three pointer in the final eight seconds of the game as both teams eased off to let the clock run down she threw up her shot.
"Videbeck put a lot of effort into it, especially in the first half," said Sobolewski of Videbeck's defensive effort on Faucher. "She did a nice job with the on-ball screen getting over it and being aggressive, anticipating well. She did a great job of being smart."
Idaho State saw a bright spot in the second half as freshman Morgan Wohltman returned for her second game since an illness had her benched for nearly two months. Stepping into the game for the final four minutes she was able to knock down two treys and a deep jump shot for eight points for two points every minute she played.
"It's nice to see her get out there and knock some shots down. It's a little more exciting, not necessarily for the game we were playing, but for the future. It's nice to see her back in action," said Head Coach Sobolewski of Wohltman's effort.
Idaho State will end its four-game road stretch at Sacramento State on Saturday, January 30 at the Hornets Nest. Tip-off begins at 2:05 p.m. for ISU's only afternoon game of the conference schedule.
