Box Score Media Book | Final Stats
POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State women's basketball team battled past Portland State 63-58 on Thursday evening at Reed Gym to improve to 15-7 and 6-3 in Big Sky play while Portland State dropped to 13-10 and 6-4 in conference.
The 15 Bengal victories matches the team's win total from last year and it is the most since ISU went 20-10 in the 2007-08 season. The win is also the Bengals 13th straight win at Reed Gym in front of a crowd of 1,019.
"They have some good fight in them. They find a way to get it done," said Head Coach Seton Sobolewski about the Bengals battling for the win. "I think our crowd support and just being at home makes a huge difference. They are very supportive and uplifting. We really appreciate all the fans coming out. That's the difference maker, that's the sixth man as people call it, just giving us that confidence making it a fun, inspiring place to play."
Chelsea Pickering, a senior guard, scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds. Pickering scored 15 of her 19 points in the first half alone while sophomore guard Kaela Oakes scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half.
"Kaela a took it upon herself to step up in the second half and found a way to take it to the basket. She's really good on that left handed finish. She can even be a little off the block and outside the key and finish a tough angled layup. She did a great job," said Sobolewski.
Freshman guard Lindsey Reed chipped in 11 points, pulled down six rebounds and made a game-high three steals while holding Portland State's leading scorer Courntey VanBrocklin to nine points.
"Lindsey Reed had a nice game tonight. She took it to the basket and took a couple tough shots. I thought she gave us a nice lift," said Sobolewski. "She did a great job on Van Brocklin defensively and really stuck to her. Van Brocklin got off to a nice start, had a couple shots, got to the basket, then we started face guarding her a little bit and I thought Lindsey did a good job of slowing her down."
The Bengals shot 41 percent from the floor and held the Vikings to 31.8 percent including 28.6 percent in the second half. The Bengal defense forced 19 PSU turnovers.
Idaho State led for the majority of the game. Idaho State led 35-26 at halftime. The Vikings opened the second half on a 9-2 run to lead 39-37 with 15:39 to play in the game. ISU then countered by scoring the next four points to lead 41-39 a minute later after a Pickering basket.
The Vikings last lead of the game was with 12:33 left at 42-41. Idaho State then maintained a slim two-to-four point lead until the final minute when the margin was extended to eight at 60-52 with 46 seconds left in the game. ISU hit five-of-six free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.
"We did a good job making our free throws shooting 80 percent in the game. I thought the free throws really powered us through," said Sobolewski.
Idaho State's biggest lead of the game was 13 points at 32-19 with 5:09 left in the first half.
Idaho State returns to the court on Saturday for a 6:35 p.m. contest at Northern Arizona. ISU returns to Reed Gym on Feb. 17 against Montana State. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
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