Women's Basketball Set to Face No. 20 Northwestern

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POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State women's basketball team heads to Evanston, Ill. to face No. 20 Northwestern in the first game of a five-game road trip on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. MST. The game serves as a homecoming of sorts for seniors Apiphany Woods and Anna Lee Policicchio, both of whom are natives of the region.

This is the first time that ISU has faced Northwestern, and the Wildcats will be the first of two ranked opponents on the trip as the Bengals are set to face No. 23 Michigan State on Saturday, Nov. 21.

SCOUTING No. 20 NORTHWESTERN
No. 20 Northwestern is in the midst of a program revival, earning a bid to the NCAA tournament last season for the first time since 1997 and entered the AP Top 25 in February 2015 for the first time since 1996.

The Wildcats return four double-figure scorers from last season's team that finished 23-9 overall. In its first game of the season on Nov. 15, NU defeated visiting Howard 89-49 with four players in double-figures including junior Nia Coffey with 27 points and seven rebounds to go along with four steals and three assists.

The Wildcats are coached by Head Coach Joe McKeown who is in his eighth season with NU.

ISU CRUISES PAST COLORADO CHRISTIAN IN SEASON OPENER
The Idaho State women's basketball team opened the season in style with a 82-56 route of visiting Colorado Christian to start the season off with a win. The Bengals featured a balanced scoring effort as 11 players scored and bested the Cougars in almost every statistical category including a 54-39 edge on the boards.

Three Bengals (1-0) finished in double-figures led by freshman guard Isabel Vara de Rey with 14. Senior guard Apiphany Woods added 13 points and 10 boards for her second career double-double and junior guard Brooke Blair chipped in 11 points with three assists.

Colorado Christian started the game in zone against the larger Bengals, so ISU countered with a four-out offense that allowed plenty of movement through the zone. ISU had several looks at the three to start the game but didn't settle for the outside shot. Before the first media, ISU took nine shots, six of which were inside. Over the course of the game, ISU outscored CCU 30-12 in the paint.

Woods was hot from the outside with two threes in the first six minutes to put the Bengals up 10-3 early. Sophomore forward Megan Hochstein made her debut Friday evening and made her presence known early. Woods hit her in transition for the easy layup at the 2:43 mark of the first quarter to put ISU up 12-5. A quick jumper by Blair and a Colorado Christian offensive foul led to a 12-point ISU lead, 17-5 with 1:25 left in the first.

ISU capitalized on its momentum, beginning the second quarter with an easy layup from senior forward Anna Lee Policicchio followed by a steal on the ensuing possession by Woods. The Cougars scored their first points of the quarter off two free throws from Taylor Torres, but the Bengals prevented CCU from scoring a field goal until the 5:53 mark of the second. CCU caught fire following its first second-quarter field-goal and made 5-of-6 coupled with an ISU scoring drought to come within 15, 35-20. Despite five second-quarter turnovers, ISU extended its lead with success from the free-throw line, sinking 10 second-quarter free-throws to head into halftime with a comfortable 16-point lead, 39-23.

After the half, both teams started perfect from the field; ISU with two layups and a jumper and the Cougars with two straight threes. ISU's Blair scored at the 6:59 mark for a 47-29 lead, but the Bengals were unable to score for the following 2:23 until Vara de Rey sunk a three as the shot clock expired to extend ISU's lead to 19, 50-31. ISU finished the third on a 9-4 run to claim the 59-35 lead.

To begin the fourth, ISU scored at will both inside and outside, starting with a deep three from sophomore guard Juliet Jones and a layup from sophomore forward Lindsay Brown. ISU gained its largest lead of the game at the 3:46 point of the fourth quarter with a 36-point buffer, but Colorado Christian finished the game on a 19-to-9 run to cut the lead by 10. Neither team scored in the final 23 seconds, giving the Bengals the 82-56 victory.

The Bengals were hot from the field in the second, shooting nearly 50 percent from the field, including 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.