Box Score Media Book | Final Stats
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – A late eight point spark by Tyler Stephens-Jenkins helped power Northern Arizona through a 59-55 victory over Idaho State to snap the Bengals four-game win streak on Saturday evening.
Idaho State held a 10 point lead, 40-30, with 12:35 remaining on a
Kaela Oakes three-pointer but Northern Arizona posted a 7-0 run to drop the Bengal lead to three points. Freshman
Kara Jenkins nailed a basket with 5:17 remaining to give ISU its last tied score at 49.
Northern Arizona responded as Stephens-Jenkins scored eight of the teams' 10 points in the final five minutes, including both of her three-point baskets for the game, to lift them past the Bengals. She scored 13 points for the night. NAU was led in scoring by Amy Patton with 14 points.
“I think Khyra Conerly impacted the game by 17 points and what I mean by that is the Conerly came in and she had seven points and five assists. So she had ten points worth of assists, some of them threes, and seven points of her own,” said Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski of the contest's game changer. “She did a nice job of bringing in energy and impacting what was going on.”
Three Bengals scored double-figures in points for the fourth game in a row. Senior guard
Chelsea Pickering scored her second straight game-high contest with 16 points while Oakes chipped in 15. She was 3-of-5 from the arc. Freshman guard
Lindsey Reed notched 12 points for Idaho State.
Idaho State held Northern Arizona to 24 points in the first half, two points above their season best record and held the 'Jacks to 26.1 percent from range.
“You hate to learn the hard way, but we've got to learn from these kinds of games. I thought defensively we did a great job for the most part especially in the first half where we held them to 24 points,” said Sobolewski.
The pace of the game was right up our ally, in the 50's/60's and that's our pace. We just didn't shoot the ball very well. We didn't knock it down when we needed to. We missed some layups, bobbled the balls at time. We didn't make enough baskets to win this one.”
Idaho State had a poor shooting night hitting 37.5 percent (21-of-56) from the field; marking the first time Idaho State has hit under 40 percent from the field since play at Montana State where they hit 39.7 percent.
The Bengals will return to home to Reed Gym for its next two contests where they hold a 13-game home win streak. Both contests will be Pink Zone games for ISU. Fans are encouraged to wear pink. Idaho State's next contest will be against Montana State on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7:05 p.m. Reed Gym will see a double-header on Saturday, Feb. 19 as the women's game against Montana will follow the men's bracket buster game. Tip-off time for women's basketball team is 7:05 p.m.
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