Box Score
OREM, Utah – A comeback bid came up short as the Idaho State Bengals fell to Utah Valley 59-56 at UCCU Arena in Orem, Utah, Friday night.
The Bengals took a 56-54 lead with 3:52 to play in the game on a layup by
Anna Lee Policicchio. The lead was the first for Idaho State but the Wolverines outscored the Bengals 5-0 to finish out the game and claim the victory.
Idaho State had two shots in the final 40 seconds of the game while trailing by just one point.
Jasmine Lemon missed a baseline 3-pointer with 32 seconds left but the Bengals got the ball back before
Kara Jenkins missed another shot with 10 seconds to play.
The Bengals nearly got a third chance but a loose ball was tied up by
Lindsey Reed and Rhaiah Spooner-Knight. The alternating possession pointed UVU's way.
Katie Kuklok hit two shots to give the Wolverines the 59-56 lead with less than one second remaining and the Bengals threw away the inbound pass to finish off any chance of a Hail Mary shot attempt.
The loss is the seventh straight for the Bengals who are now 2-7 on the season. Utah Valley broke a nine-game skid with the win and is now 2-10.
The wolverines started the game on an 11-3 run that put them in the driver's seat for nearly the entire first half. The Bengals trailed by as many as 12 points (32-20) with 1:54 to play in the first half. The Bengals closed out the half with a 7-2 run to cut that lead to 34-27 at the break.
ISU outscored UVU 29-25 in the second frame but it wasn't enough to come up with the win.
"We played hard and we played a lot better defense in the second half," Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski said. "We need to iron out our offense and get things going in the right direction with our motion. We're going to keep working hard and get better."
Utah Valley was led by Spooner-Knight who scored 21 points while shooting 7-9 from the field and 7-7 from the line. UVU's leading scorer Kuklok was 8- from the line but scored just 13 points, well below her season average of 20.3 Points Per Game.
"It was a battle," Sobolewski said. "We did a good job stopping some of their leading scorers in check but they got a lot of contributions from other players that we weren't expecting."
The Wolverines were and amazing 24-28 from the free throw line for 85.7 percent while ISU was 11-15 from the line for 73.3 percent.
"The difference in tonight's game was the free throws," Sobolewski said. "We have got to play better defense, move our feet and keep our hands off."
Foul trouble was an issue for the Bengals starting forward
Jessica Tingey fouled out in the second half and Reed played nearly the entire second half with four fouls.
Reed led Idaho State with 11 and
Jasmine Lemon and Policicchio had 10 each to lead the Bengals.
Kara Jenkins had a career high 11 rebounds to lead Idaho State.
The Bengals will now take a break for the Holidays before returning to practice on the 27th in preparation for the Big Sky opener at Portland State on Jan. 2 at 8 p.m. mtn.
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