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PORTLAND, Ore. – A 13-0 run by Montana (16-14) in the first half was too much for the Bengals to recover from as the Griz led Idaho State (18-12) by double-figures for the rest of the contest. The Bengals ended its season 66-53 to Montana in the Big Sky tournament quarterfinals hosted by Portland State at the Peter W. Stott Center on Thursday evening.
Despite the loss, three Bengals scored in double-figures led by senior guard
Chelsea Pickering tied Montana's Stephanie Stender with a game-high 18 points. Pickering also had six rebounds and a game-high four steals. Freshman guard Reed put 11 points on the scoreboard and a game-high eight rebounds. Vella chipped in 10 points and a game-high three blocked shots.
“I think we really showed our youth. We have our 11 players, seven are freshman or sophomores. I think we got a little tight. We got off to a good start. Chelsea hit some shots, and we got to the basket with Ash Vella,” said Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski. “Then, Montana made some adjustments and we started taking some bad shots and started playing a little bit more on emotion than just running our offense or playing smart.”
Idaho State opened with high energy and an 8-4 lead 4:57 into the contest, but a 13-0 run in Montana's favor gave the Griz a 17-8 lead sparked by an offensive possession where Montana had four offensive rebounds. Stephanie Stender scored six of her eight points in the first half during the 13-0 run. Freshman
Lindsey Reed broke the non-scoring streak at 8:17 remaining on a three-pointer.
Montana maintained its double-figure lead into the break, 32-16, as ISU shot just 30.4 percent to Montana's 40 percent taking 12 more shots. Forward
Ashleigh Vella led ISU at the half with six points making 3-of-4 from the field.
ISU's 16 points in the half was a season-low and tied Montana's season best defensive effort in a first half when they held UC Riverside to 16 points in the Griz's first game of the season.
Idaho State shot 26.3 percent from the arc matching Montana's five made three pointers. Oakes opened the second half with a three-pointer eight seconds in and went on to score ISU's first five points before Pickering threw up an open hook layup from underneath the basket with 14:02 remaining in the game.
“We don't rely on the three, but it's nice to get us that momentum. I thought after Kayla hit that three in the second half, it was going to come around for us and we were going to get rolling. It just didn't happen for us,” said Pickering.
Idaho State competed in the second half outscoring Montana 37-34, but the Bengals could never pull out of the hole that was dug in the first half. The Bengals hit 44.1 percent from the field in the second half and held Montana to 41.7 percent.
The Bengals put on a full court press in the final minutes of the second half reducing Montana's lead from a game-high 22 points with 5:15 remaining to a 13 point lead at the end of the contest.
Notes: Idaho State ends its season with 18 victories the third most wins in a single season at Idaho State … Montana has never had a loss in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
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