Box Score PDFEAST LANSING, Mich – The Idaho State women's basketball team outscored No. 23 Michigan State in the last three quarters but a 20-point deficit from the first quarter proved too large to overcome as the Bengals fell 79-60 to the Spartans Saturday morning. The Bengals' shooting improved immensely from their previous game at Northwestern, shooting their highest percentage of the season at 42.3 percent. ISU also improved its rebounding, grabbing 34 to MSU's 36 and only allowing 11 offensive boards as compared to 23 at Northwestern.
Three Bengals finished in double-figures, led by senior forward
Anna Policicchio with a season-high 17 points, tying her career-high with three threes off a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, and five rebounds. Senior guard
Apiphany Woods added 11 points and four boards, and junior guard
Brooke Blair chipped in 10 points.
The Bengals struggled to get started in the first quarter offensively and defensively, consequently allowing the Spartans a 16-3 advantage in less than five minutes. Policicchio knocked down her first three at the 5:07 mark, ending a 2:15 scoring drought for ISU and a 9-0 Spartan run. Blair connected on two consecutive shots to cut MSU's lead to 11, 21-10, but the Bengals were unable to halt another 9-0 Spartan run and ended the first down 20, 30-10.
The beginning of the second saw MSU's unanswered run extend to 12-0 until Woods hit 1-of-2 at the line for ISU's 11th point of the game. Woods followed it up with a layup that started a 14-4 run over the next 6:44 to cut the Spartans' lead to 14, 39-25. The Spartans connected on two layups to end the quarter for a 20-point lead until ISU sophomore
Juliet Jones sunk a three to end the quarter for a 45-28 halftime score.
The third quarter saw nearly even production from both squads offensively, with Michigan State notching 18 points to ISU's 17. ISU cut the Spartans lead to 14, 47-33, following two straight layups from sophomore forward
Lindsay Brown and prevented MSU from scoring its first field goal until the 7:20 mark of the third. Michigan State extended its lead to as many as 23 in the third, but ISU finished the quarter with a 5-3 run to bring the deficit under 20 points, 63-45.
The Bengals closed out the game with a 15-point fourth quarter and limited the Spartans to 16 in the final period. Policicchio had a monster fourth quarter, scoring 10 of her 17 in the final 10 minutes. MSU gained its largest lead at the 1:05 mark with a 24-point advantage, but ISU finished on a 5-0 run, all by Policicchio, for the final 79-60 score.
The next stop for the Bengals is Lubbock, Texas as they face Big 12 foe Texas Tech on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 5:30 p.m.
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