Bengals Take on NAU in First Game of Final Road Trip

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POCATELLO, Idaho - Idaho State takes to the road for the last time in the 2013-14regular season. The Bengals play at Northern Arizona at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on Fox Sports Arizona. ISU then travels to Sacramento State, Saturday, for their final road game.

Lindsey Reed leads ISU in scoring at 16.4 points per game. Jessica Tingey scores 11.7 PPG and leads the Bengals with seven rebounds per game.

Idaho State is tied for fifth place with Sacramento State and Montana State in the Big Sky conference with an 8-8 record. ISU has a 10-15 record overall.
ABOUT NORTHERN ARIZONA
Northern Arizona is still in the hunt for a spot in the Big Sky Tournament but currently sits on the outside looking in. The Lumberjacks are in ninth place in the conference standings at 6-10 (9-16 Overall), but NAU has won three of its last four games.

Amanda Frost, the leading scorer in the Big Sky Conference, leads the Lumberjacks with 21.7 points per game. Erikka Banks scores 14.2 PPG and Brittani Lusain scores 12.6 PPG. Banks leads NAU with 7.9 rebounds per game.

The Lumberjacks are coached by Sue Darling in her second year. Darling has a record of 17-37 at Northern Arizona.

LAST MATCHUP: SOBOLEWSKI BECOMES ISU'S WINNINGEST COACH WITH 82-72 WIN OVER NAU
The Bengal team started the game on an 8-0 run on a layup by Jessica Tingey and 3-pointers by Rebecca Schrimpsher and Lindsey Reed.

Idaho State held a 30-27 lead at the break but extended the lead to as much as 14 in the second half before NAU closed the gap to 82-72 at the end of the game.

Five Bengals scored in double-figures, led by Reed with 23 and Tingey with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Sheryl Bitter scored a career-high 15 points for the Bengals as did Alissa Willard with 10. Rebecca Schrimpsher scored 11 for ISU.

Banks led Northern Arizona with 27 points and Frost, had 23 points for NAU. Brittani Lusain had nine points and a team-high six rebounds.

The win was Head Coach Seton Sobolewski's 94th career win at the helm at Idaho State, which moved him past Jon Newlee as the winningest coach in Idaho State history.

LAST GAME: MONTANA
The Montana Grizzlies started with a 12-0 run and never trailed en route to a 76-67 win over Idaho State Saturday afternoon in Reed Gym.

ISU was 19-53 (35.8 percent) from the field for the game while Montana was 24-60 (40 percent). The Lady Griz out-rebounded ISU 46-33.

Reed led ISU with 21 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Schrimpsher scored 14 for the Bengals. Jenkins added 11 and Jessica Tingey scored 10.

Kellie Cole led Montana with 27 points and eight rebounds and Torry Hill scored 19 for the Lady Griz.

BIG SKY CONFERENCE PICTURE
With two weeks remaining in the conference play North Dakota has a one-game lead in the loss column at 13-4. Montana and Southern Utah are tied for second place at 11-5. Eastern Washington sits in sole possession of fourth place at 10-6.

Three teams are tied at fifth place at 8-8, Idaho State, Montana State and Sacramento State. Idaho State owns a tiebreaker over Montana State with the sweep over the Bobcats. The Bengals also won the first game against Sacramento State. The Hornets won the first matchup of the season against Montana State.

Northern Colorado is in eighth place at 8-9. Northern Arizona is in ninth at 6-10, Portland State is 10th at 4-12 and Weber State rounds out the standings at 2-14.

Seven teams attend the Big Sky Tournament.

SOBOLEWSKI BECOMES THE WINNINGEST COACH IN ISU HISTORY
The win over Northern Arizona was Head Coach Seton Sobolewski's 94th career victory. The win pushed Sobolewski past Jon Newlee as the winningest coach in ISU history.

Sobolewski has led Idaho State to the Big Sky tournament each year of his tenure, including 2012 when the Bengals won the conference championship to advance to the NCAA tournament.  His current record is 96-84 overall and 61-34 on Big Sky play.

REED IN THE RECORD BOOKS
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 hit the 500 career rebound mark against Black Hills State in the first game of the season.

Against Southern Utah Reed moved into the top 10 all-time in rebounds, with 650 career rebounds she is ninth in ISU History. Her 1,380 career points ranks fourth in ISU history.

Scoring
3. Mandi Carver  1,538
4. Lindsey Reed 1,380
5. Ashley Toner   1,342

Rebounding
7. Jeanne Gragg 733
8. Michelle Grohs 669
9. Lindsey Reed  650


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 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 cast.