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MOSCOW, Idaho – The Idaho State women's basketball team shed its scoring woes Saturday afternoon as it defeated Idaho 67-60 at the Cowan Spectrum in its fifth-highest scoring output this season. The Bengals shot 41.7 percent from the floor including 35.3 percent from beyond-the-arc to hand the Vandals their first home loss of the season.
In the absence of ISU's leading scorer and rebounder
Grace Kenyon, who was out for the game nursing a sore knee, multiple players stepped up. Sophomore guard
Saylair Grandon picked apart the Vandal defense for a career-high 24 points off 10-of-19 from the field to go along with six rebounds, two assists and a steal with just one turnover. Junior forward
Lindsay Brown added a season-high 15 points with four rebounds and a career-high tying three assists, while freshman guard
Bianca Thacker hauled in a season-high 11 rebounds to go along with six points, two assists and two steals.
"So many people showed up to play today," Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski said. "Saylair was huge in the fourth quarter putting points on the board, and
Lindsay Brown hit two back-to-back big time threes that put us ahead. Bianca did a great job on the boards with 11, and
Britanny Kochenderfer had a nice line with five points and five boards, hitting two big free throws down the stretch. There were so many great contributions from different people."
Idaho State (9-7, 3-2 BSC) started the game similarly to the way it ended the last, shooting under 30 percent for 15 first quarter points. Idaho (7-9, 2-3 BSC) took the early 7-2 lead and extended its lead to eight points, 12-4, with 6:13 remaining in the first quarter. The Bengals would twice cut the lead to five points, once off a trey from Kochenderfer and again on a layup from freshman forward
Sai Tapasa, but a 7-2 Vandal run put the Bengals behind 10, 21-11, with 1:39 left. Brown fueled a 4-0 ISU run to close the quarter and cut the lead to six, 21-15.
Idaho opened the second quarter on a tear, dropping five unanswered points to gain its largest lead of the afternoon at 11, 26-15. The Bengals answered, capping a 7-0 run over the next 1:13 to cut the Vandals' lead to four and force Idaho to regroup by way of a 30-second timeout.
The Vandals ended ISU's run with a three-point play from Mikayla Ferenz, but the Bengals scored seven-straight to tie the game 29-all with 3:20 remaining in the half. Idaho hit two of its final four attempts to take a four-point lead at the half, 35-31.
Idaho extended its lead to seven in the first 3:30 of the third quarter and held at least a three-point lead the entirety of the quarter. With 30 seconds remaining, Tapasa headed to the free throw line and converted 1-of-2 to cut the lead to five points, 52-47. Thacker blocked Idaho's ensuing three-point attempt and Idaho State entered the fourth down five.
The Vandals opened the fourth with a layup and two made free throw attempts in the first 34 seconds to extend its lead to nine, 56-47. ISU responded with a run of its own, putting together eight unanswered points courtesy of Brown and Grandon to cut the lead to one, 56-55 with 6:37 remaining. 90 seconds later, Grandon completed a three-point play to give ISU a brief lead, 59-58.
A pair of Vandal free throws on the ensuing possession kicked the lead back in favor of Idaho 60-59 with 4:40 remaining, but Idaho went ice cold from the field to pave the way for Idaho State. The Bengals regained the lead with a big trey from Brown and extended their lead to four, 64-60 with a layup from Grandon at the 1:56 mark. ISU converted 3-of-4 free throws in the final 35 seconds to seal the win, 67-60.
"Our team passed a big character test today," Sobolewski said. "We were without Grace today, and we could have easily felt sorry for ourselves but we didn't. We dug deep and found a way to win at a tough place to win."
The Vandals were led by Geraldine Mccorkell with a team-high 23 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while Ferenz added 22 points and four rebounds in 40 minutes of play.
Idaho State returns to Pocatello for a three-game home stand beginning with league-leading Northern Colorado on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. at the ICCU Court at Reed Gym.
NOTES
- This was the fifth time this season Saylair Grandon has surpassed her previous career-high in scoring and the seventh time the sophomore has reached double-figures. Grandon's 24 points against Idaho marks the most scored by a Bengal in a single game this season.
- Despite the absence of leading scorer and rebounder Grace Kenyon, the Bengals recorded their third-highest scoring effort at 67 points and recorded at least 40 boards for the 11th time this season.
