Game Notes: Montana Tech
BENGALS IN ACTION THIS WEEK
Idaho State (8-4) welcomes the new year by hosting its final non-conference game of the season against Montana Tech (10-4) at the ICCU Court at Reed Gym on Saturday, Jan. 1 at 2:05 p.m. It will be the second time in program history that the Bengals will play on New Year's Day. Idaho State is playing its best ball as the Bengals are on a five-game win streak and an eight-game home win streak. The Bengals are undefeated with a 4-0 record at Reed Gym this season. The contest will be considered an exhibition game for the Orediggers.
MULTIMEDIA INFORMATION
ISU's contest will be broadcast by KISU 91.1 FM and online at www.isubengals.com. The action will be brought to you by women's basketball play-by-play announcer
Mark Liptak with color commentary from
Brad Bugger. Fans can follow along through video streaming online at www.bigskytv.com as well as through live stats at www.isubengals.com. Fans can purchase tickets at www.isubengals.com or by calling 208-282-FANS. Individual game tickets can also be purchased one hour before tip-off.
WELCOMING IN THE NEW YEAR
ISU contest against Montana Tech will be the second game in the program's history of playing a contest on the first day of the new year. The last time ISU played a game on New Year's Day was in 1984 during when ISU played a neutral game against Southern Oregon at the Chico State Invitational. The Bengals captured a 99-58 victory that day.
CLOSING OUT THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Idaho State has won five of its last seven final non-conference games before heading into Big Sky Play. ISU's last final non-conference game win was the first under Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski, an 86-42 victory over Great Falls at Home. Of the last seven games ISU has posted a 3-1 record at home, 1-2 on the road.
BENGALS ON WAY TO BEST NON-CONFERENCE RECORD AT ISU
Idaho State is one win away from the best non-conference record in school history boosting the Bengals up to a 9-4 record. Currently, ISU is tied with the 2003-04 and 2007-08 seasons for eight non-conference wins before Big Sky play.
ABOUT THE BENGALS
Idaho State has four players in double-figure scoring for the third straight week. Senior guard
Chelsea Pickering not only leads the Bengals but the Big Sky Conference with 18.2 points per game. ISU's other three players to average double-figures in scoring is sophomore forward
Ashleigh Vella with 11.8 ppg, sophomore guard
Kaela Oakes with 11.3 ppg, and freshman guard
Lindsey Reed with 10.5 ppg. All four players are starters for the Bengals along with senior guard
Andrea Blodgett who averages six ppg. The Bengals are averaging 66.4 ppg and had their highest scoring game of the season against Great Falls at home in a 98-50 victory.
BENGAL STANDOUTS
The Bengals are led in scoring by
Chelsea Pickering with 18.2 ppg and she has posted the game-high in scoring for ISU seven times, two consecutively. She leads the Big Sky in consecutive double-digit scoring games with 10 straight. Freshman
Lindsey Reed and sophomore
Kaela Oakes, both guards, have led the Bengals in scoring twice while sophomore forward
Ashleigh Vella and senior guard
Andrea Blodgett have each had their turns once this season. Vella and Reed have led the Bengals in rebounding four times, followed by freshman forward
Cydney Horton three times and freshman guard
Kara Jenkins and Oakes once each.
BENGALS ON EIGHT-GAME HOME WIN STREAK
Idaho State is on a eight-game home win streak dating back to early February of the 2009-10 season. It is the longest home win streak under Head Coach Sobolewski. Idaho State's longest home win streak was 17 matches from the end of the 1999-00 season to the start of the 2001-02 season. The Bengals were undefeated with a 15-0 home record in 2000-01 and posted an overall record of 25-5; ISU was 16-0 in conference play.
ABOUT MONTANA TECH
Montana Tech is on a three game win streak having defeated Whitworth 73-51 on the road. Montana Tech's game against Idaho State will serve as an exhibition game for the Orediggers. Montana Tech is 0-1 in exhibition games having fallen to Montana State 93-55 earlier in the season. The Orediggers are 7-3 on the road.
OREDIGGER STANDOUTS
The Orediggers are led by Meghan Eisenmann who was averaging 15.54 points per game after the team's 104-46 victory over King's University. Brooke Pokorny and Taesha Higbee averaged 13.77 and 10.69 points per game.
MONTANA TECH AND IDAHO STATE SERIES INFO
Idaho State holds a 7-0 lead over Montana Tech. The Bengals defeated the Orediggers 93-62 in their last meeting on Nov. 13, 2007. ISU' s greatest margin of victory over the Orediggers was a 102-59 victory during the 2006-07 season.
THREE DIFFERENT BENGALS HAVE EARNED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Three players have earned Big Sky Player of the Week Honors this season:
Chelsea Pickering,
Kaela Oakes and
Ashleigh Vella. Each player received the award for the first time It is the first time since the 2000-01 season when the Bengals finished with a 25-5 overall record and an undefeated 16-0 Big Sky record. The most Big Sky Player of the Week awards ISU had received was six in 2000-01, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08. Natalie Doma tops the individual list having earned the award 13 times from 2005-08.
STARTING SOPHOMORES ARE ACCURATE BUNCH
ISU's sophomores, Oakes and Vella, have proven to be the most accurate players on the court. ISU as a team is hitting 40.8 percent from the floor led by Vella (51-of-100) at 51 percent, while Oakes tops ISU's Big Sky leading three-point average with 43.2 percent (16-of-37). Three Bengals average over 80 percent from the line, but Vella tops them all hitting 80.5 percent (33-of-41).
ISU HITS SHOTS FROM DOWNTOWN
Oakes, a sophomore guard, leads the Bengals from the downtown range hitting 43.2 percent (16-of-37) to lift Idaho State to conference leaders in shooting percentage from three-point range at 34.9 percent. Of the eight players who have thrown up a shot from behind the line, six are averaging better than 32.5 percent accuracy. Of the two players who do not average in the top 30 percent have taken a combined eleven shots from three-point range.
ISU TOPS THE BIG SKY CONFERENCE
Idaho State leads the Big Sky conference in several categories including: victories (eight), non-conference record (8-4), win streak (five), free throw percentage (78.1 percent), field goal percentage (40.8 percent), field goal percentage defense (36.3 percent), 3-point field goal percentage (34.9 percent), scoring margin (+4.6), and individual leading scorer (
Chelsea Pickering with 18.2 ppg).
ISU SQUASHES PREVIOUS SEASON-HIGHS AGAINST GREAT FALLS
ISU broke every one of its previous season-highs for scoring statistics except for holding its opponent to its lowest second half scoring. Idaho State set season-highs for points in the paint with 50, off turnovers with 48, off second chance points with 20, off fast break points with 18, from bench points with 36 as well as a team high first half score of 41 points while holding Great Falls to a season-low 22 points. Idaho State also posted its highest scoring game of the season as well as highest scoring game under Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski.
BENGALS SOLID AT THE LINE
Idaho State posts the 14th best free throw percentage (as of 12/20/10) in the nation with the team hitting 77.2 percent (146-of-189) from the line. ISU still has its work cut out for themselves since the 2007-08 Idaho State women's basketball program set the NCAA all-time record, regardless of division and gender hitting 83.2 percent. Idaho State
Kaela Oakes leads ISU's effort knocking down 40 of her 49 attempts to hit 81.6 percent of her shots. A clutch shooter, Oakes is a perfect 12-of-12 from the line in the final two minutes of games. The Bengals are now 30-of-36 (83.3 percent) from the line in the last two minutes.
PICKERING IN SCORING STANDINGS FOR BIG SKY AND NCAA
Chelsea Pickering, a senior guard, is the leading scorer in the Big Sky averaging 18.2 points per game. Prior to ISU's contest against Great Falls she was averaging 18.1 ppg which gave her a 47th national ranking among the top 250 ranked players.
EVERYONE ON THE BOARD, EVERYONE A WINNER
Against Great Falls, Idaho State played everyone of its players on the roster and every single Bengal contributed scoring at least three points or more. Three players posted a career-high including freshman forward
Cydney Horton with 10 points followed by
Kari Green and Jessica Jensen who each tabbed four points. Senior guard
Aralee Smith posted a season-high four points.
31 POINTS IS CAREER-HIGH FOR TWO BENGALS
Both Vella and Pickering hold a career-high 31 points. Vella notched her career-high 31 points in a double-double effort with 11 rebounds at Utah in ISU's first program victory over the Utes with a 71-68 overtime victory. Pickering tied her career-high 31 points at Texas State which is a Big Sky game-high for the season. Pickering hit 10-of-22 from the field, 6-of-10 from the arc and 5-of-7 from the line. She posted her first 31 point game during the 2008-09 season when she hit 10-of-18 from the field against Portland State at Reed Gym on Jan. 10, 2009.
BENGALS HIT CEILING WITH 31-POINTS
Under Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski three Bengals have posted a career-high 31 points: Vella, Pickering and Oana Iacovita who put up her 31 points at Montana State during the 2009-10 season to open Big Sky Conference play in a 77-73 overtime victory on Jan. 2, 2010. Of the 31 point performances three have been on the road with one at home and two have been reached in overtime. The single game record for Idaho State is 38 points held by Andrea Lightfoot versus Idaho on Dec. 10, 2005.
YOUNG SQUAD DOES NOT ACT INEXPERIENCED
Idaho State welcomed five freshmen this season:
Sheryl Bitter,
Cydney Horton,
Kara Jenkins, Jessica Jensen and
Lindsey Reed, while returning four seniors:
Chelsea Pickering,
Andrea Blodgett,
Kari Green and
Aralee Smith. Though the senior to freshman ratio may look to balance out, fans need only to examine the number of games played to see how truly young the ISU squad is this season. Idaho State's most experience player,
Chelsea Pickering, has competed in only 54 contests over her career, starting in just 41. Sophomores
Ashleigh Vella and
Kaela Oakes are the second most experienced players each competing in 42 games with Vella starting in 41 while Oakes has started in 25. Senior guard
Andrea Blodgett follows having played in 31 games, starting in 21. ISU players that have played in at least 20 games, but have never started are sophomore forward
Shannon Byrne with 29 games, senior guard
Aralee Smith in 28 games and senior guard
Kari Green in 25 games. Combined ISU's starters have played in a total of 181 games in their careers at Idaho State, just over what a single senior could average in a career assuming 30 games each year over four years for 120 games. However, even though the Bengals are young Idaho State is leading the Big Sky with an 8-4 record.
IDAHO STATE CAPTURES FIRST PROGRAM WIN OVER UTAH
Idaho State captured its first program victory over Utah in a 71-68 overtime contest with sophomore forward
Ashleigh Vella leading the way. Vella scored a career-high 31 points and posted a game-high 11 rebounds, her first double-double of the season, at the Huntsman Center on Wednesday. ISU's victory broke a 27-0 series record held by Utah over the Bengals. ISU took Utah to its second consecutive overtime game between the schools. Vella hit 12-of-18 from the field, 2-of-3 from the arc and 5-of-5 from the line.
Chelsea Pickering chipped in 17 points in and was 9-of-10 from the line.
FUN FACTS ABOUT SENIOR GUARD CHELSEA PICKERING
• Granted a fifth year by the NCAA for the 2011-12 season to replace her freshman year (2007-08) where she competed in three contests for a total of 17 minutes.
• Has overcome numerous injuries including a season-ending ACL injury during the 2008-09 season that cut her year short after 16 games.
• Leads the Big Sky in scoring with 18.2 points per game.
• Leads the Big Sky in consecutive double-digit scoring games with 10 straight.
• Has posted three 20-point performances this season, one 30-point performance. Over her career she has posted two 30-point games (both 31 point career-high performances), three 20-point games and 33 double-figure point performances.
• This season Pickering has posted double-figure scoring games in 11-of-12 competitions. Her only single figure scoring night was a six-point performance at Boise State (11/14/10).
•She is one of only three players to post a 30-point performance this season, the other is Idaho State's
Ashleigh Vella.
• Ties for the third most steals per game in league play at 2.4.
• Posts the ninth best free throw percentage in the league with 79 percent.
• Is the most experienced player on the Bengal team having played 54 games and started in 41 over her career.
• Has recorded 619 points (in just three seasons of play) over her career.
• Is five steals away from posting 100 career steals.
RANDOM FACTS
• Vella is the first Bengal to record a double-figure rebound game this season as well as ISU's first double-double when she posted a career-high 31 points and a game-high 11 rebounds at Utah.
• ISU has had six games of 80 percent or better at the line, six games of 40 percent or better from the field and four games of 50 percent or better from the arc.
• ISU has had four games with four players posting double-figures in scoring: Air Force, No. 16 Texas, UTEP, Utah Valley, Utah State and Great Falls. (ISU had back-to-back games with four scoring in double-figure points at Texas and at UTEP).
• ISU has four players in the top-20 Big Sky scoring standings: Pickering, Oakes, Vella and Reed.
• Under Head Coach Sobolewski Idaho State has had three players post career-highs of 31 points: Oana Iacovita,
Chelsea Pickering (twice) and
Ashleigh Vella.
• Vella and Pickering's 31-point games leads the Big Sky single game record for the 2010-11 season.
• Vella leads the Big Sky with a game-high 12 field goals made at Utah.
• Both Pickering and Oakes have posted a team game-high 9-of-10 effort from the line (Oakes vs. High Point and Pickering at Utah).
• Pickering recorded a career-high seven steals at Utah. The seven steals is a season-high for the Bengals, she was one steal shy of tying the ISU single game record.
• Pickering recorded a career-high eight rebounds at Utah.
• Reed, a freshman guard, led the Bengals in scoring in ISU's first two games of the season, with 21 points versus Loyola Marymount and 14 points at Boise State.
• Vella recorded a career-high three blocks and Oakes posted a career-high five steals against Utah Valley.
• With victories over Air Force and Utah Idaho State is 5-17 against Mountain West teams. ISU's victory over Utah Valley was the first program win against a Great West team and ISU's win over High Point was the first Big South victory.
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