Box Score PDFOREM, Utah – The Idaho State women's basketball team countered a dismal first-half scoring effort with a 40-point second-half surge to erase an eight-point deficit and defeat the Utah Valley Wolverines 56-47 for its fifth-straight win in Orem, Utah Tuesday afternoon. Idaho State (7-4) shot 50 percent in the fourth quarter alone and held Utah Valley (7-7) to just nine points in the final period for the victory.
Idaho State was led by its power three, with senior guard
Apiphany Woods registering her second double-double of the season and third of her career with 12 points and 10 boards, followed by junior guard
Brooke Blair with 15 points and five assists, tying her career high. Senior forward
Anna Policicchio had a solid game for the Bengals with 14 points and eight rebounds while shooting 5-of-9 from the field. Junior forward
Freya Newton had a monster game on the boards, hauling in a game-high 11 rebounds, nine in the first half, for a new career high.
"I'm more proud of this win than any other this season because we shot the ball really poorly but still found a way to win," said Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski. "Good teams find a way to win in those situations."
ISU struggled in the first two quarters, scoring just 16 points for its worst first-half offensive output since a 16-point showing at Northwestern on Nov. 19. As a team, the Bengals shot just 20 percent from the field and finished 1-for-10 from downtown, with only two players finishing with more than three points. Newton kept ISU within striking distance, pulling down nine boards, three of them offensive, in the first half alone. Despite the offensive struggle, ISU faced just a six-point deficit heading into halftime, 22-16.
Utah Valley opened the third period with a jumper to go ahead by eight, and increased its lead to 10 points with 1:46 left in the period. Newton drained a three at the 1:14 mark to cut the lead to seven, 38-31, sparking a 12-0 run to give ISU its first lead since the 5:16 mark of the first period. Both teams traded baskets for the next 3:39 until ISU broke a 47-all tie with 2:25 remaining off a tip-in from Policicchio. Utah Valley suffered a scoring drought over the final 2:45 seconds as the Bengals capitalized, scoring nine unanswered points to finish the game and earn the 56-47 win.
Karlee Norris led the Wolverines with 11 points and the only player to finish in double-figures for Utah Valley.
Idaho State opens conference play Jan. 2 against Weber State at the ICCU Court at Reed Gym at 2 p.m.
This Is Our Time
