Women's Basketball Defeats Eastern Washington 71-62

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POCATELLO, Idaho - The Idaho State women's basketball team defeated Eastern Washington 71-62 Wednesday night at the ICCU Court at Reed Gym. With the win ISU improved to 7-10 in the Big Sky Conference and 14-14 overall. Eastern Washington fell to 13-4 in the conference and 19-10 overall.
 
ISU shot 44 percent for the game and 32 percent from the three-point line. EWU shot 34 percent from the field and turned the ball over 12 times. The bench led the way for Idaho State outscoring Eastern Washington 24-2.
 
"We really dug deep tonight," Head Coach Seton Sobolewski said. "We had a great team effort to hold them off and score enough to win this game."
 
Four Bengals scored in double figures led by senior forward Tressa Lyman who scored a career-high 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Senior guard Apiphany Woods and junior guard Brooke Blair added 13 apiece and junior guard Freya Newton scored 12.
 
Eastern Washington started quick and took an early 8-3 lead with 6:01 left in the first quarter. The Bengals cut the deficit to 12-10 after a free throw by Newton with 48 seconds remaining in the quarter.
 
Both teams heated up in the second as EWU opened up a 19-10 advantage after a quick 7-0 run to start the quarter. Idaho State answered right back with an 11-2 run over the next 2:08 giving the Bengals their first lead of the game at 21-20 with 5:37 left in the half.
 
The teams played back-and-forth the rest of that half with the Bengals taking a 34-31 lead into the locker room.
 
Lyman and Woods led the way for Idaho State in the first half scoring eight points each. Newton added four points and grabbed four rebounds.
 
"The whole team played well tonight, said Lyman. "We all made the extra pass, rebounded hard and hustled and that put us in a good position to win."
 
For Eastern Washington, senior guard Hayley Hodgins led all scorers with 13 points in the first half. Junior guard Tisha Phillips added eight points for the Eagles. The Bengals bench outscored EWU's 13-2 in the first half. The Bengals also won the rebounding battle 24-22.
 
Eastern Washington outscored ISU 15-12 in the third quarter to tie the score at 46 entering the final period. 
 
Idaho State went on a 7-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to take a seven-point lead, 59-52 with 5:10 remaining. The run was capped off by a three from Newton and a layup by Woods.
 
EWU cut it to three, 59-56 with 4:14 remaining but the Bengals finished the game on a 12-6  run which sealed the victory. The run was aided by a big offensive rebound on a free throw by senior forward Anna Policicchio which led to a three in the corner by Newton to put the Bengals up 67-58.
 
Hodgins finished with 31 points for Eastern Washington to lead all scorers. Phillips added 15 points and junior forward Ashli Payne secured nine rebounds.
 
The Bengals play their final home game of the season against the University of Idaho on Friday, March 4 at 7 p.m. at the ICCU Court at Reed Gym. It will be the final home game for seniors Woods, Lyman and Policicchio. They will be honored prior to the start of the game.

Notes
- Anna Policicchio moved into second all-time in ISU history for blocks in a single season. Policicchio recorded six blocks against the Eagles for 73 total blocks so far this season; she surpassed Lori Heeter on the season blocks list who collected 71 blocks during the 1991-92 season.
- The Bengals finished with four players in double figures for the first time since Jan. 30 at Northern Arizona.
-  Idaho State recorded 19 assists on 28 field goals, its largest number of assists since recording 20 against Portland State on Jan. 16. The Bengals limited EWU to just three assists; that is the largest difference in assists for ISU since the Bengals dished out 24 assists to visiting Utah State's three on Dec. 8.
- This is the first time this season that senior Tressa Lyman has led the Bengals in both scoring and rebounding; Lyman finished with a career-high 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds.