Idaho State Closes Season Against BYU at WNIT

Box Score

PROVO, Utah – Idaho State closed the 2012-13 season with a 69-54 loss to Brigham Young in the first round of the WNIT Wednesday night.
 
ISU's WNIT performance marked the second straight postseason tournament appearance for the program as the Bengals made a trip to the NCAA Tournament last season. This was ISU's first appearance at the WNIT since 2008 and first meeting with BYU since 2006.
 
“It's a privilege and honor to be here at the WNIT,” ISU Head Coach Seton Sobolewski said. “They very easily could have taken someone else. I'm glad that they recognized the type of season that we had and the opponents that we played against. It was a great honor to be here and a fun experience. It's a feather in our cap.”
 
The Bengals complete the season with an 18-13 record while BYU improves to 22-10 on the year and advances to the second round of the tournament. The 18 wins on the season gives ISU a three-year total of 60 wins and a 20-win per season average.
 
Senior forward Ashleigh Vella led Idaho State in her final performance as a Bengal with 15 points. The Melbourne, Australia native went 2-5 from the 3-point line, pulled down four rebounds and recorded three assists with one block as well as a career-high seven steals.
 
Senior Jessa Jeppesen came close to another double-double as she recorded 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds in the contest. She shot 4-5 from the free throw line and had one block.
 
Senior guard Kaela Oakes also scored in double figures, netting 11 for Idaho State. Oakes also had four rebounds, three assists and one steal.
 
BYU's height plagued the Bengals as the Cougars out-rebounded ISU 47-35 and outscored the Bengals in the paint 30-14.
 
Idaho State shot 53.8 percent from 3-point range during the contest, hitting 7-13 to help keep it close for a majority of the contest.
 
“I thought we did well the first 30 minutes of the game,” Sobolewski said. “We cut it to three with about 10 minutes to go and then we hit a cold spell where we didn't make shots. I felt like we pushed BYU to do more. I feel like [Haley] Steed had to push it into a higher gear. I'm very proud of our effort and the season that we have had.”
 
BYU opened a 9-2 lead early in the first half and the Bengals answered with a 13-6 run to tie it at 15-15 with less than eight minutes left. Both teams battled back-and-forth for most of the rest of the half until the Cougars used a 9-4 run with less than three minutes left to close the half with a 27-34 lead.
 
The Bengals shot 71.4 percent from 3-point range in the first half with Vella, Oakes, Kara Jenkins, Lindsey Reed and Rebecca Schrimpsher all netting one.
 
ISU got within three points of the Cougars with less than 14 minutes to play in the second half, but a 10-3 run followed by a 14-4 run opened up a 20-point lead for BYU with less than four minutes to play.
 
Idaho State graduates five seniors this season, including two of the winningest four-year players in program history, Oakes and Vella. Vella also broke the ISU all-time games played record, making her 123^rd career appearance in tonight's game. The Bengals will return a large senior class next year that includes Jenkins, Lindsey Reed, Alissa Willard, Sheryl Bitter and Jessica Jensen.