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RENO, Nev. – The Idaho State women's basketball team upset No. 1 Montana State 52-50 in thrilling fashion Wednesday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nev. As in so many games this season for the Bengals, the outcome of the game came down to one final possession. The final 6.8 seconds to be exact.
Montana State (21-9) missed four free throws in the final minute to open the doors for Idaho State (17-14). MSU's Riley Nordgaard stepped to the line with seven seconds remaining with a 50-49 lead and a chance to put the Bobcats up by three points. Nordgaard, a 75 percent free throw shooter missed both, and a monster board by senior forward Anna Policicchio opened the gates once more for the Bengals.
Policicchio outlet the ball with just over six seconds remaining to sophomore guard Juliet Jones on the left side of the court. Jones sped up the left side, stopped and popped what would be the biggest shot of the tournament thus far. From three feet behind the three-point line, Jones sunk the game-winner with 0.2 seconds remaining.
"It felt really good," Jones said in response to the shot. "I knew what the time was, so I knew there wasn't enough time to really pass it up."
Both teams struggled from the floor to start the game, with Idaho State starting 0-4 and Montana State missing its first six. Idaho State's junior guard
Brooke Blair broke the scoring drought for the Bengals, finishing a layup at the 7:52 mark of the first quarter. A free throw from freshman guard
Saylair Grandon followed by an open layup gave ISU the early 5-0 lead.
Montana State responded with a 10-0 run to lead the Bengals 10-5 with 3:14 remaining in the first. Idaho State made just 2-of-16 attempts and finished the quarter down six, 13-7.
The Bobcats extended the lead to nine following a trey from Nordgaard, but ISU answered with a quick layup from senior guard Apiphany Woods 20 seconds later to cut MSU's lead to seven. The Bengals were able to chip away and came within five points, 20-15, following layup from Blair with just under 4:30 remaining.
Idaho State would score just two points over the next 3:24 as MSU capped an 8-2 run for its largest lead of the half at 11, 28-17. Bengals would score once more to close the quarter and bring the lead under 10 points heading into the half, 28-19.
ISU opened up the second half with an 8-1 run to cut MSU's lead to 2, 29-27. The Bengals prevented an MSU field goal until the Bobcats' Hannah Caudill hit a layup with 3:51 left in the quarter, but seven made free throws gave MSU the 39-32 advantage heading into the final quarter.
MSU led by as many as nine points with just over two minutes remaining when ISU put together its final run to upend the No. 1 seed. Junior forward Freya Newton struck first with an offensive rebound put-back with 1:32 left to cut the lead to seven, 49-42. Newton fouled on the following possession, and MSU's Peyton Ferris hit 1-of-2 at the charity stripe to give the Bobcats an eight-point cushion with 1:23 remaining.
Idaho State would finish the game on a 7-0 run in the final 1:10 beginning when freshman guard Isabel Vara de Rey connected on a long trey from Woods to bring the game within two possessions, 50-45. 18 seconds later, Newton scored once more in the paint to cut the Bobcats' lead to three. ISU followed it up with two free throws from Woods to bring the Bengals within a point, 50-49, with 39 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing possession the Bobcats had a clear look at the basket, but Big Sky MVP Jasmine Hommes suffered a rare miss on the layup giving the Bengals a chance for the win.
Idaho State was out of timeouts and forced to play on the fly. ISU worked the offense for 23 seconds before Newton took the go-ahead open trey, but the ball rimmed in-and-out forcing the Bengals to foul. MSU's missed free throws and Jones' textbook trey gave the Bengals the first major upset of the 2016 Big Sky Conference Tournament.
"I thought we did a really good job of hanging in there," Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski said. "Montana State got a nice lead at the half and I thought we had great optimism and great positivity. We just tried to hang in there. I thought our defense and rebounding in the second half was really good after letting them get loose a little bit in the first half. We just put ourselves in a position [at the end of the game] to hit a good shot."
The Bengals were led in scoring by Woods with 11 points in addition to a game-high five assists and a game-high four steals, while Blair chipped in 10. Policicchio had a career night on the glass and hauled in 17 rebounds, crushing her previous career-high of 13.
For the Bobcats, three players finished in double-figures led by Ferris with 16 to go along with nine rebounds. Nordgaard led the effort on the glass with a team-high 11 rebounds.
The Bengals advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2014 and the 12th time in program history. Idaho State is set to play the winner of the No. 4 North Dakota/No. 5 Montana game at 1:05 p.m. MST at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nev.
Notes
- This was the second time in history that Idaho State and Montana State have met in the quarterfinals. Montana State won the matchup 59-55 in 1998.
- Anna Policcchio recorded a game-high three blocks and moved into second-place in ISU history in single-season blocks with 82. She is three blocks shy of surpassing Mandi Ortega for first place.
- The Bengals out-rebounded their opponent for the 12th time this season. Idaho State is now 12-7 in games in which it outrebounds its opponent.
- Idaho State limited Montana State to just 50 points, 26.2 points below the Bobcats season average. It is only the fourth time this season that Montana State has been limited to under 60 points.
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