Box Score
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Idaho State women's basketball team has won four straight and swept a tough three-game week on the road with a 52-48 win over Northern Arizona in Flagstaff Saturday. The Bengals move to 10-7 overall and 5-3 in Big Sky action. The Lumberjacks fall to 4-12 overall and 3-4 in league play.
Senior forward
Ashleigh Vella led Idaho State with 18 points, scoring 11 in the second half alone. The Melbourne, Australia native also posted seven rebounds, an assist and two steals in 36 minutes of play.
Junior guard
Lindsey Reed also posted a double-figure scoring performance, chipping in for 14 points with six rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal.
Junior forward
Cydney Horton recorded two blocks in the contest and is now just one block away from becoming the sixth player in program history to record 100 career blocks. She scored nine points and pulled down six rebounds in 28 minutes of play.
With the win, ISU Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski is now the second most winningest coach in ISU program history, recording his 78
th career win Saturday night. He surpasses former coaches Ardie McInelly and Ted Anderson who had posted 77 career wins and is now behind Jon Newlee who posted 93 career wins in six seasons with the Bengals. Tonight's contest was also Sobolewski's 140
th game at the helm of the ISU women's basketball team, the third most for any ISU coach.
The Bengals trailed NAU at the half 33-28 despite shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3-point range. The Lumberjacks led by as much as nine points with 5:28 remaining in the first half. ISU battled back and tied the contest 25-25 with 2:41 remaining in the half and took the lead 28-27 with 1:29 remaining. NAU closed the half with three uncontested buckets to close the half with a five-point lead.
The second half was a back and forth battle with the Lumberjacks. Both teams put up strong defensive efforts as ISU held NAU to a 19.2 shot percentage and the Lumberjacks held ISU to a 26.3 shot percentage. ISU's largest lead of the half was six with just 13 seconds left in the contest.
“They weren't shooting the outside shot well and weren't shooting many outside shots at all so we made the adjustment to try to contain the drive a little better in the second half,” Sobolewski said. “As the half progressed, I felt like NAU was a little tired and we tried to contain even more of the penetration and tried to do the best we could one-on-one on the low post, which was a huge challenge for us tonight with players like Raven Anderson and Aubrey Davis.”
The Bengals held the conference's leading scorer, Amy Patton, to just eight points in the contest. Prior to Saturday's game, Patton had averaged 20.6 points per contest.
The Bengals look to keep their winning streak alive with two pivotal home games next week as ISU faces Montana and Montana State, the top two teams in the conference. Idaho State takes on the Grizzlies Thursday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. before facing the Bobcats Saturday at 2 p.m. Montana is 5-2 in conference play while MSU leads the conference with a 7-1 record.
We Are Your Bengals
