Women's Basketball Heads South to Face Texas Tech

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POCTELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State women's basketball team heads south for the final leg of its five-game road trip. After facing two Top 25 opponents in No. 20 Northwestern and No. 23 Michigan State in the chilly Midwest, the Bengals head to Texas to face Big 12 member Texas Tech on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 5:30 p.m. MST. Following Tuesday's match, ISU will head to El Paso, Texas for a two-game tournament at UTEP.

SCOUTING TEXAS TECH
The Texas Tech Red Raiders are 2-0 to start the season after collecting wins against Niagra (79-45) and Southeastern Louisiana (113-51) in Lubbock, Texas. TTU returns seven letter winners and two starters from last season's squad that finished 15-16 overall with a 5-13 mark in Big 12 play, good for 10th.

In 2014-15, the TTU averaged 58.3 ppg while shooting 37.6 percent from the field and grabbing an average of 35.7 rpg. Currently, three players are averaging double figures for the Red Raiders led by junior guard Ivonne CookTaylor.

Texas Tech is coached by Head Coach Candi Whitaker.

PREVIOUS GAME: WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHALLENGES No. 23 MICHIGAN STATE; FALLS 79-60 IN EAST LANSING
EAST 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.