ISU Women's Basketball Faces Carroll College Friday

GAME NOTES | AUDIO | LIVE STATS | TICKETS | TEXT MESSAGE ALERTS

BENGALS IN ACTION THIS WEEK
Idaho State (4-3) women's basketball faces Carroll College (6-4, 1-0) at home this week. The match-up with the Fighting Saints is Friday,  Dec. 14 at 7:05 p.m., inside Reed Gym. This is ISU's second to last non-conference match-up as ISU begins conference action next week before playing its final non-conference game against Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz., Saturday, Dec. 30.

LAST WEEK IN BENGAL BASKETBALL
Last Saturday, Idaho State defeated Summit league foe Utah Valley 69-67 in Reed Gym. Three Bengals were able to score in the double digits and were led by senior forward Ashleigh Vella who recorded 14 points and 10 rebounds in the contest for her first double-double of the season. Senior Abyee Maracigan neared a double-double off the bench with 10 rebounds and eight points against the Wolverines.

ABOUT THE BENGALS
Idaho State is 4-3 on the season. The three losses have come at the hand of No. 19 Nebraska, No. 25 Kansas and Kansas State. Junior guard Lindsey Reed leads ISU with 12.3 points per game. Forwards Cydney Horton and Ashleigh Vella are close to averaging double-doubles as Horton averages 11.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game while Vella averages 10.9 points and 8.4 rebounds.

The Bengals are shooting 35.8 percent from the field and 30.7 percent from 3-point range. ISU is averaging 60.9 points per game and allowing just 56.0 points from opponents.

ISU is leading the conference in scoring defense (56.0) and field goal percentage defense (.344). Kaela Oakes is tied for first in the conference in free throw percentage (92.3) as she has hit 12-of-13. Ashleigh Vella is tied for first in 3-point field goal percentage as she has gone 7-14 this season.

The Bengals are ranked 45th nationally in field goal percentage defense, 53rd in blocks per game, 98th in turnovers per game and 81st in scoring defense. Cydney Horton is 95th nationally in blocked shots per game (1.86).

MULTIMEDIA INFORMATION
Fans can listen to game action at 91.1 KISU or online via web-streaming audio at www.isubengals.com with play-by-play action with Mark Liptak. Live stats for the contest are available at www.isubengals.com. Score updates will also be available through ISU's social media outlets at Facebook and Twitter as well as in text message alerts.

BENGALS IN THE MID-MAJOR TOP 25 POLL
After dropping out of the Top 25 three weeks ago, Idaho State is now back in and ranked No. 25 with 80 points. ISU's highest rating of the season was No. 21. Fellow Big Sky schools Portland State and Montana State are receiving votes. The Mid-Major Poll is made up of teams from the following conferences: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Great West, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, West Coast.

VELLA HITS 1,000TH POINT
Idaho State senior forward Ashleigh Vella became the 15th player in ISU history to score 1,000 career points as she met the mark in ISU's 64-55 win over rival Boise State. Going into the contest, Vella needed just nine points to notch 1,000 for her career and the Melbourne, Australia native recorded 14 in the game bringing her career total to 1,005. Vella also had eight rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Bengals in 29 minutes of play. Throughout her career, Vella has recorded 1,033 points, 605 total rebounds and has the seventh most made free throws in program history with 260. She is the 12th player in program history to record 1,000 point and 500 rebounds in her career at ISU.

HORTON DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Junior forward Cydney Horton recorded her second straight double-double of the 2012-13 season and the fifth of her career against Boise State. Against the Broncos, Horton tied her career best of 19 points and pulled down a personal best 13 rebounds. Against Air Force she posted a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds. Horton recorded three double-doubles during the 2011-12 season. With five career double-doubles, Horton has the second most career double-doubles for current players behind senior forward Ashleigh Vella who has seven. Senior Jessa Jeppesen has one that she recorded last season and junior guard Lindsey Reed has one she recorded during the 2010-11 season.

HORTON NAMED BIG SKY PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior forward Cydney Horton was named co-Big Sky Player of the Week after posting back-to-back double-doubles in ISU's 64-55 win over Boise State and the 83-51 win over Air Force. Hortons' efforts helped ISU to defeat rival Boise State and improve to 2-2 on the season and handed Boise State its first loss of the season as the Broncos fell to 3-1.
 
The win at Taco Bell Arena marked ISU's first win against BSU in Boise since Dec. 21, 2002 when the Bengals defeated the Broncos 63-49. ISU has now defeated Boise State two seasons in a row as ISU defeated BSU last season in an 84-75 decision in Pocatello. The last time ISU had back-to-back wins against the Broncos was in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.
 
Horton shared the Player of the Week honors with Northern Arizona's Amy Patton who tied the conference single game scoring record of 41 last week against Bradley. The Lumberjacks lost the contest 95-83.

BENGALS TOP PRESEASON POLLS
The Idaho State women's basketball team has been selected to defend its Big Sky Conference title in both the coaches and media polls. The Bengals finished with 97 points and eight first-place votes in the coaches poll while the team earned 154 total points with eight first-place votes in the media poll.

OAKES NAMED SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE
Senior guard Kaela Oakes has been selected as a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award. Oakes is one of 30 candidates selected and is the second straight ISU women's basketball player to earn the honor after Chelsea Pickering was selected as a candidate last season.
 
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.

Last season, Oakes helped lead Idaho State to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007. Oakes averaged 11.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.0 steals per game. She was selected Big Sky All-Conference First Team, was named to the Big Sky All-Tournament Team and named team MVP.

ABOUT CARROLL COLLEGE
Carroll College, an NAIA school is a member of the Frontier Conference. The Fighting Saints are 6-4 on the season and 1-0 in league action. The contest against Idaho State will count as an exhibition match-up for Carroll College. The Fighting Saints are averaging 62.1 points and allowing 54.7 points per game. The squad is currently ranked No. 24 in the NAIA DI Coaches Top 25 Poll. CC is shooting 40.3 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from 3-point range. Torrie Cahill leads the team with 14.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Megan Patterson is also averaging double-figure points with 12.4 per game.

Carroll College hired first-year head coach Rachelle Sayers last spring to replace Shawn Nelson. Sayers served as an assistant coach at Weber State for 14 seasons. She brought Weber State transfers Megan Patterson, Joey O'Neill and Jordan Pfau to Helena with her.

SERIES INFO AND LAST MEETING WITH THE FIGHTING SAINTS
Idaho State leads the series 2-1 and the Bengals are 1-0 at home against Carroll College. This is the first meeting between the two programs in more than a decade as the Bengals and Fighting Saints last met Dec. 12, 1991. Idaho State won the contest 73-55. The last time Carroll College defeated the Bengals was on Dec. 29, 1985 in Helena, Mont., in a 101-95 decision.