Women's Basketball Hosts Idaho on Senior Night

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POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State women's basketball team host Idaho in its final regular-season home game Friday evening at 7 p.m. at the ICCU Court at Reed Gym. The game will be ISU seniors Tressa Lyman, Anna Policicchio and Apiphany Woods' final home game and each will be honored prior to tipoff.

SCOUTING IDAHO
Idaho carries a 21-8 overall record with a 13-4 mark in conference play, and the Vandals have secured their spot as one of the top three seeds and a first-round bye in the Big Sky Conference Tournament March 7-12 in Reno, Nev.

This season, the Vandals are averaging 74.9 points per game and 42.6 rebounds while shooting 40.2 percent from the field. The Vandals have three players averaging double figures led by sophomore forward Geraldine McCorkell with 12.4 points per game. Senior guard Christina Salvatore leads the rebounding effort with 7.3 per game, good for eighth in the conference.

The last time ISU faced the Vandals the Bengals struggled from the field, shooting just 26.5 percent in the first half which led to a 15-point deficit at the break. Apiphany Woods tallied 16 points for the Bengals but ISU's shooting woes could not overcome a 27-point performance from Idaho's Stacey Barr, the Big Sky Conference leading scorer a season ago. ISU fell 77-53 in the final game of the regular season.

Idaho is coached by Head Coach Jon Newlee.

SERIES REVIEW: VANDALS LEAD THE WAY
Idaho holds a commanding lead in the overall series against Idaho State with a 27-10 edge, however, since the Bengals resumed playing Idaho after the Vandals joined the Big Sky conference, the teams have split with one win each.

A LOOK BACK: THIS DATE IN HISTORY
This is the 10th time in program history that the Bengals have played on March 4. ISU carries a 2-7 overall record on this date with wins coming against Idaho during the 1993-94 season and against Montana State during the 2005-06 season.

SENIORS SHINE
Senior forward Anna Policicchio ranks third all-time in career blocks in ISU history. Policicchio passed Kelly Palmer (1984-89, 137 blocked shots) after recording four blocks at Montana on Feb. 25 and now sits alone in third with 147 career blocked shots. She's seven blocks shy of passing Mandi Ortega for second all time. Policicchio has racked up 73 blocks this season along, good for second on ISU's single season blocks list. She also broke the 800-point barrier after scoring a career-high 27 points at Montana State Feb. 27; she now has 821 career points. Senior guard Apiphany Woods also broke the 800-point scoring barrier after netting 19 at Montana State; she now has 819 career points. Senior forward Tressa Lyman notched a new career-high in points Wednesday night against EWU, netting a team-high 14 points.

FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE CLOSE-UP
During conference play, ISU has limited all but three of its Big Sky opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field. The Bengals rank first in the conference in field goal percentage defense in conference play, forcing their opponents to an average of 35.7 percent shooting. As a result, the Bengals also rank first in scoring defense, limiting their opponents to an average of 61.1 points per game during conference play. ISU ranks first in three-point field goal percentage defense, forcing opponents into shooting an average of 27.6 percent from beyond-the-arc.

CRASHING THE BOARDS
The Bengals have out-rebounded their opponent 10 times during conference play and have grabbed more boards in six of the last eight games (the Bengals tied EWU in the rebounding battle with 40 each). Idaho State ranks second in the conference in rebounding margin, and has out-rebounded its opponents by an average of 4.1 rebounds per game.

LIMITING OPPORTUNITIES
In conference play, the Bengals are limiting their opponents to an average of 61.1 points per contest, the lowest conference average since the 2012-13 season in which they limited opponents to just 54.5 points per game. However, ISU is averaging just 60.6 points per game, the lowest conference scoring average for the Bengals since the 2008-09 season in which they averaged 61.8 points per game.