Women's Basketball Falls at Montana

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MISSOULA, Mont. – The Idaho State women's basketball team fell to Montana 62-47 Thursday evening at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula, Mont. Although the Bengals committed a season-low seven turnovers and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, they struggled from the field shooting just 24.2 percent for their lowest scoring output since recording 47 points at Northern Colorado on Jan. 7.

Junior guard Brooke Blair and freshman guard Isabel Vara de Rey led the Bengals with 11 points each. Junior guard Freya Newton shared game-high honors in rebounds with 10.

"When you look at the stat sheet, threre are a lot of positives," Head Coach Seton Sobolewski said. "We took 66 shot attempts to Montana's 53, 14 offensive rebounds and four fewer turnovers. We just needed to finish better offensively."

Idaho State (13-13, 6-9 BSC) fell behind early as Montana (17-9, 10-5 BSC) hit five of its first six attempts for a 10-4 lead after four minutes. A three from Blair at the 5:34 mark of the first quarter cut UM's lead to three, 10-7, but the Bengals suffered a scoring drought for the remainder of the first quarter, allowing the Grizzlies to pull ahead 17-7 at the end of the first.

Blair broke ISU's scoring drought 45 seconds into the second quarter, and a jumper from Vara de Rey 90 seconds later brought UM's lead to single digits, 19-11, with 7:42 remaining. A jumper from sophomore forward Lindsay Brown at the 4:36 mark cut UM's lead to six, 23-17, but the Bengals once again suffered a lengthy scoring drought, this time for the final 4:36 of the second quarter, giving the Grizzlies the 14-point halftime lead, 31-17.

Coming out of the break the Bengals scored quickly as Newton found Brown on the right baseline for a wide-open trey just eight seconds in. Brown's three sparked a 9-0 ISU run over the next 4:44 to cut the Grizzlies' lead to five, 31-26. UM's Haley Vining ended the Bengals' run with a three at the 5:16 mark, and UM outscored ISU 13-5 over the final five minutes of the third quarter to regain a double-digit lead, 45-31, heading into the final quarter.

Montana extended the lead to 18, its largest of the evening, with 8:00 remaining in the game.  Vara de Rey scored ISU's first points of the fourth, hitting 2-of-2 free throws with 7:14 remaining. Idaho State held the Grizzlies scoreless over the next 2:38 to cut the lead to 10, 49-39, but a jumper from Kayleigh Valley put UM up by 12 with 4:36 remaining. Idaho State was unable to make a final run and fell to the Grizzlies 62-47 for only its seventh double-digit loss this season.

Montana was led by Valley who finished with 23 points off 8-of-17 shooting to go along with four assists, while Alycia Sims recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards.

The Bengals face league-leading Montana State in Bozeman, Mont. Saturday evening at 8 p.m.

Notes
- Senior forward Anna Policicchio's four blocks against the Grizzlies gives her 139 career blocks, moving her into third all-time on ISU's career blocks list. Policicchio passed Kelly Palmer who competed from 1984-89 and has 137 career blocks.
- Blair finished in double-figures for the 21st time this season and the 11th consecutive game.
- Newton's 10 rebounds are her best effort in conference so far this season, and it is her second-best rebounding effort this season. Newton's career-high of 11 came Dec. 29 at Utah Valley.
- ISU's seven turnovers are the lowest so far this season and the lowest since committing just five against Portland State on March 8, 2014.
- This is the sixth-straight game that the Bengals have grabbed 10 or more offensive rebounds, and it is the 20th time this season they have grabbed double-digit offensive rebounds.
- Over the last two games, ISU has missed just three free throws, finishing a combined 27-30.