Bengal Women Kick Off Big Sky Season With Portland State

Notes l Big Sky TV l Live Audio l Live Stats

POCATELLO, Idaho - The Bengals will face Portland State and Eastern Washington in their first Big Sky games of the 2013-14 season. Idaho State will face PSU Thursday at 8 p.m. mtn. at the Peter W. Stott Center in Portland, on Saturday the Bengals with face Eastern Washington at 3 p.m. mtn in at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
The Bengals (2-7) are on a seven-game losing streak but all of those games were on the road and two were on against top 25 teams (No. 20 Oklahoma State, No. 25 Iowa).
 
Lindsey Reed leads  ISU with 14.2 Points Per Game and Jessica Tingey is scoring 11.3 PPG and leads the Bengals with 6.9 Rebounds Per Game.
 
ABOUT PORTLAND STATE
The Vikings are 3-7 on the season including an 86-74 road win over Eastern Washington in the first Big Sky Conference game of the season.
 
Portland State owns wins against NAIA Corban University (74-62), Columbia University (75-67) and Eastern Washington.
 
Portland State is led by Guard Kate Lanz who averages 13.4 Points Per Game. Forward Allie Brock also averages above double-figures with 12.3 PPG and leads the Vikings with 5.7 Rebounds Per Game.
 
The Vikings are led by Sherri Murrell in her seventh season. Murrell has a record of 113-84 with a 60-41 record in the Big Sky Conference.
 
LAST GAME: UTAH VALLEY
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 loss is the seventh straight for the Bengals who are now 2-7 on the season.
 
HOLIDAY BREAK
The Utah Valley game was the only matchup for the Bengals between the loss at Iowa on Dec. 7 and the Big Sky Conference opener at Portland State on Jan. 2.
 
REED HITS THE MILLENNIUM MARK
With 19 points against Illinois-Chicago Lindsey Reed surpassed 1000 career points. She is just the 17th player in ISU history to join the 1000 point club. She also hit the 500 career rebound mark against Black Hills State in the first game of the season. Reed is the leading scorer for the Bengals this season and averages 14.6 PPG.
 
THE "ROAD" TO BIG SKY PLAY
The Bengals began a tough nine-game schedule at UIC and will not play at Reed Gym until Jan. 9th against North Dakota. Road games include UIC, Oklahoma State, Utah State, Boise State, Drake and Iowa.
 
The game at UIC was the first game East of the Mississippi for Idaho State under coach Seton Sobolewski.
 
A DECADE OF THE BIG SKY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
Idaho State has advanced to a school record 10 straight Big Sky Conference Tournaments. In that time the Bengals have advanced to two NCAA tournaments (07 and 12) and four WNITs (04, 06, 08 and 13).
 
TRIP TO THE WNIT
The Bengals played in their second-consecutive post season national tournament in 2013. The Bengals played Brigham Young in Provo in the opening round of the WNIT. The Bengals fell 69-54 to the Cougars. Ashleigh Vella scored a team high 15 points and Jessa Jeppesen grabbed eight rebounds in the loss to BYU.
 
TWO STARTERS RETURN FOR THE BENGALS
Kara Jenkins and Lindsey Reed return for the Bengals. Jenkins comes into the season with 580 career points and 479 career rebounds. She has played in 93 games and has 53 starts for Idaho State.
 
Reed has 970 career points and 492 career rebounds. She has 92 games under her belt including 89 starts in her career at ISU.
 
OTHER RETURNERS FOR THE BENGALS
Along with the two starters the Bengals have three other seniors, one junior and one sophomore to round out the list of returning players.
 
Senior Jessica Tingey, formerly Jessica Jensen, has 64 career points and 65 career rebounds. Senior Alissa Willard, a JC transfer, played in 15 games in 2012-13 and scored four points. Senior Sheryl Bitter has the most experience of tvhe last season's non-starters; she had played in 77 games and scored 109 points in her career at Idaho State.
 
Junior Becca Schimpsher has played in 35 career games and has 46 points. Sophomore Anna Lee Policicchio played in only six games last season but spent time over the summer with the Canadian U19 National team.
 
ISU NEWCOMERS
The Bengals have eight newcomers, one JC transfer in junior guard Jasmine Lemon and seven freshmen; Grace Kenyon, Sherise Porchia, Katrina Bacovcin, April Dawson, Lindsay Brown, Natalie Mecham and Kyndall Adams.
 
BENGALS RANKED FIFTH IN BOTH PRESEASON POLLS
The Idaho State Women's basketball team was picked to finish fifth in the Big Sky Conference by both the coaches and the media.
 
The first five spots were the same in both polls. Eastern Washington is the favorite followed by Montana, Northern Colorado, Montana State then Idaho State.
 
In the coaches poll the Bengals were picked just above Southern Utah followed by Portland State, North Dakota, Sacramento State, Northern Arizona and Weber State. In the Media Poll Sacramento State was picked in the sixth spot followed by Portland State Southern Utah, North Dakota, Northern Arizona and Weber State. ISU received four first place votes in the media poll out of 30 ballots casted.