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POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State women's basketball team defeated visiting Montana State 67-59 Saturday afternoon at the ICCU Court at Reed Gym to start conference play 2-0 for the first time since the 2011-12 season. The Bengals out-rebounded Montana State, the Big Sky Conference rebounding leader heading into Saturday's game, 53-38 and made 6-of-8 free throws in the final minute to put the Bobcats away.
"Absolutely [I'm proud of this team]," Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski said. "And they know it."
The Bengals finished with three players in double-figures led by sophomore guard
Saylair Grandon with a career-high 21 points on 7-of-12 from the field including 3-of-4 from beyond-the-arc. Fellow sophomore guard
Grace Kenyon added 19 points and nine boards, while junior forward
Lindsay Brown chipped in 10 with three assists. Senior forward
Freya Newton dominated the boards with a career-high tying 11 rebounds including six offensive rebounds.
"
Freya Newton is one of those players that really takes rebounding to heart," Sobolewski said. "She had six o-boards tonight. She gets in there and she expends so much energy on the defensive end and in rebounding."
Idaho State (8-5, 2-0 BSC) limited Montana State (8-4, 1-1 BSC) to 59 points, the Bobcats' second-lowest point total of the season and well below their season average of 70.9. Yet MSU started off well, converting 7-of-16 field goals in the first quarter to take the early 19-15 lead. ISU's defensive pressure began to pay off in the second quarter as the Bengals forced MSU to shoot just 21.4 percent from the floor for 13 points. The early jumper from Kenyon just 24 seconds into the quarter cut MSU's lead to two, while a three from Grandon 20 seconds later gave ISU its first lead of the afternoon, 20-19.
The Bengals' lead was short-lived however as MSU's Peyton Ferris converted two free throws to put the Bobcats back on top 21-20 with 9:04 remaining. Montana State extended its lead to as many as five twice more in the second quarter, but a 6-0 Bengal run put ISU in front 30-29 with 3:31 remaining. The two squads traded points, and ISU went into the locker room with a one-point lead, 33-32.
Montana State struck first in the third as Hannah Caudill sunk a deep three to give the Bobcats the lead but the Bengals would tie the game twice more before an 8-0 run fueled by six-straight Kenyon points gave ISU its largest lead of the game thus far, 43-37 with 4:42 remaining in the third. MSU chipped away at the lead and tied the game 48-all with 57 seconds left. An MSU layup with 30 seconds left game Montana State the 50-48 lead heading into the final quarter.
Grandon opened the scoring for ISU with a trey just 13 seconds into the quarter to put ISU up by one, 51-50, and a layup from Kenyon on the subsequent play extended that lead to three. The Bengals nursed a small lead for the first five minutes of the final quarter, but Montana State continued to push and regained the lead 57-56 following a three form Riley Nordgaard at the 4:07 mark.
Nearly two minutes later, the game was tied 59-all. Sophomore guard
Isabel Vara de Rey broke the tie with a layup at the 1:56 mark to give ISU the 61-59 lead. Montana State missed its attempt on the following possession and began to foul to stop the clock. Two more MSU fouls put Idaho State at the line for the remainder of the quarter, and the Bengals converted 6-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute to secure the win, 67-59.
"This is a big win," Grandon said. "It was just a tough game, and a lot of our girls just played hard. You can tell with all the hustle plays and everything, so it was just exciting."
Montana State was led by Ferris with 16 points with a game-high seven assists while Nordgaard chipped in 10 with a team-high nine rebounds.
"I was very happy with our performance," Sobolewski said. "Even when the game was tight, it was hard for me to really be upset with anything because you're just proud of how your team is playing. That's a really good team out there. [Montana State] is the highest RPI team in our conference right now, and we found a way to beat them so it's a big deal."
Idaho State is one of three unbeaten teams in the Big Sky as Northern Colorado and North Dakota are also undefeated. The Bengals now hit the road for three-straight games beginning with Weber State next Saturday, Jan. 7. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah.
NOTES
- This is the first time since the 2011-12 season that Idaho State has swept the Montana/Montana State weekend. In the 2011-12 season, ISU defeated Montana State 59-58 in Bozeman, Mont. on Jan. 5 and followed it up with a 58-51 win at Montana on Jan. 7. The last time Idaho State swept Montana/Montana State at home was during the 2007-08 season with the Bengals defeated Montana 90-77 on Jan. 17 and bested Montana State 85-80 on Jan. 19.
- Saylair Grandon has posted two career-high performances back-to-back. The sophomore guard from Phoenix, Ariz. scored a new career-high 15 points against Montana on Dec. 29 and followed it up 21 points against Montana State for a new career high.
- Freya Newton collected a career-high tying 11 boards with a career-high tying six offensive rebounds. Newton has reached double-figure rebounds twice this season and five times in her career, and she has recorded at least five boards in eight games this season.
- Idaho State's 53 rebounds are the most the Bengals have recorded this season, and the Bengals out-rebounded the Bobcats by 15, the second-highest rebounding margin of the season. ISU leads the Big Sky in rebounding margin at +6.5 per game.
