Bengal Cagers Travel to Eastern Washington Saturday

Notes l Live video l Live Audio l Live Stats

CHENEY, Wash. - The Bengals face Eastern Washington in the final of nine-straight road games for Idaho State Saturday at 3 p.m. at Reese Court and Cheney, Wash.

The Bengals (3-7, 1-0 BSC) won their first Big Sky game of 2013-14 at Portland State 76-64 Thursday night. The win was the first win since a Nov. 11 win over Carroll College and the first DI win of the season for ISU.
 
Lindsey Reed leads  ISU with 14.8 Points Per Game and Jessica Tingey is scoring 11.6 PPG and leads the Bengals with 6.6 Rebounds Per Game.

ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON
The Eagles (5-6, 1-1 BSC) were the consensus preseason Big Sky Favorite but started the season with five straight losses over very tough competition. Since that time the Eagles have won five of their last six games. They beat Weber State 78-67 Thursday behind 22 points from Hayley Hodgins, 21 from Lexie Nelson and 17 from Laura Hughes.

Three Eagles average above double-figures, Nelson leads the Eagles with 17.9 PPG, Hughes scores 16.4 PPG and Hodgins averages 11.7 PPG.

Veteran Coach Wendy Schuller leads Eastern Washington in her 13th season at the helm at EWU. She has an overall record of 166-199. She has led the Eagles to four straight Big Sky Tournament appearances.

LAST GAME: PORTLAND STATE
Four Bengals scored in double-figures to lead Idaho State to a 76-64 road win over Portland State in their Big Sky Conference opener Thursday night at the Peter W. Stott center in downtown Portland.

Lindsey Reed overcame a slow start to lead all scorers with 20 points while Jasmine Lemon scored a career high 15 points, Jessica Tingey added 14 and Becca Schrimpsher had 11.

The win also ties head coach Seton Sobolewski with former coach Jon Newlee for the most Big Sky wins in Idaho State history.

The game was the first conference game for Idaho State (3-7, 1-0 BSC) but Portland State (3-8, 1-1 BSC) beat conference favorite Eastern Washington on the road Sunday afternoon. It was also the tenth straight conference opening win for Idaho State.

SOBOLEWSKI ONE WIN AWAY FROM IDAHO STATE RECORD
With the win at Portland State Seton Sobolewski tied former ISU coach Jon Newlee for Idaho State record for Big Sky Conference wins at 54. Sobolewski has 89 wins which is just four wins shy of Newlee's ISU record 93 wins.

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.