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BENGALS IN ACTION THIS WEEK
Idaho State (3-3) women's basketball faces Utah Valley (2-7) at home this week. The match-up with the Wolverines is Saturday, Dec. 8 at 2:05 p.m. inside Reed Gym. The Utah Valley game kicks off a four-game home stand for the Bengals which will end with ISU's first two conference match-ups of the year against Portland State and Eastern Washington.
LAST WEEK IN BENGAL BASKETBALL
Last week, Idaho State split on the road defeating Summit League foe South Dakota before falling in a hard fought battle to No. 19/21 Nebraska 60-51. Junior guard
Lindsey Reed led the Bengals against USD. She scored a season high 20 points in ISU's 69-45 win. Reed shot 7-13 from the field and hit four 3-point shots. She went 2-2 from the line and had three rebounds, one assist and three steals. Against No. 19/21 Nebraska she led ISU with 16 points. She also added six rebounds and two blocks in the contest. She shot 5-12 from the field and posted three 3-point field goals.
ABOUT THE BENGALS
Idaho State is 3-3 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 12.7 points per game. Forwards
Cydney Horton and
Ashleigh Vella are close to averaging double-doubles as Horton averages 12 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while Vella averages 10.3 points and 8.2 rebounds.
The Bengals are shooting 35.3 percent from the filed and 30.8 percent from 3-point range. ISU is averaging 59.5 points per game and allowing just 54.2 points from opponents.
ISU is leading the conference in scoring defense (54.2) and field goal percentage defense (.332).
Kaela Oakes is tied for first in the conference in free throw percentage (92.3).
The Bengals are ranked 23rd nationally in field goal percentage defense and 55th in scoring defense.
Cydney Horton is 95th nationally in blocked shots per game (1.67) while
Lindsey Reed is 96th in 3-point field goal percentage (36.1).
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 AND THE MID-MAJOR TOP 25 POLL
Idaho State is still receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll and jumped from 11 votes last week to 43 this week. Portland State is the only other Big Sky member receiving votes with three. 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 1,019 points, 595 total rebounds and has the seventh most made free throws in program history with 259.
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 six. 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 UTAH VALLEY
Utah Valley, a member of the Great West Conference, is 2-7 on the season and 0-5 on the road. The Wolverines are averaging 64.4 points and allowing 73.6 points per game. The squad shoots 39.7 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from 3-point range. UVU was slected to win the Great West this season after finishing tied for second last year with a 6-4 record. This is Utah Valley's last year as a member of the Great West as the school joins the WAC July 1, 2013.
Utah Valley plays three games this week, all against Big Sky schools. UVU faces Weber State Tuesday, Southern Utah Thursday and Idaho State Saturday. UVU defeated Weber State 68-56 in Orem, Utah. Sammie Jensen recorded 30 points and 15 rebounds in the contest.
Sammie Jensen is leading the nation with seven double-doubles recorded in nine games. She leads UVU, averaging 18.7 points and 12.8 rebounds per game.
SERIES INFO AND LAST MEETING WITH THE WOLVERINES
The series between the two teams is tied 4-4. Utah Valley won the last meeting last season in a 68-59 decision in Orem. ISU won the meeting before that in Pocatello 68-56. Utah Valley has only defeated Idaho State once in Pocatello. The Wolverines won the contest Dec. 2, 2006 in an 89-82 overtime final.
In the last contest, four Bengals scored in double digits led by
Jessa Jeppesen with 17. ISU struggled offensively and gave up 19 turnovers in the contest, leading to the UVU victory.
We Are Your Bengals
