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MALIBU, Calif. – The Idaho State women's basketball team fell 80-74 at Pepperdine Tuesday afternoon for its first loss of the 2017-18 season. The Bengals battled foul trouble the entire contest and gave up a season-high 16 offensive rebounds resulting in 17 second-chance points for the Waves.
"That's a stat I really pay close attention to is how many extra shots did they get because they got on the glass," Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski said. "We've been doing rebounding drills for the past four or five days; even before playing UC Irvine we were doing rebounding drills in preparation for Pepperdine. And they still gave it to us."
Idaho State (4-1) finished with four players in double figures led by junior guard
Saylair Grandon with 18 points off 6-of-11 from the field with a career-high tying four treys. Junior guard
Grace Kenyon and sophomore forward
Sai Tapasa each added 14 points while sophomore guard Estefania Ors added 13 points, all in the second half, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
The Bengals opened the first quarter with a trey from Grandon, but a 10-3 Pepperdine run found ISU down 10-6 with 5:02 remaining. The Bengals responded and put together an 11-0 run over the next 4:40 to take a seven-point lead, 17-10, with 39 seconds left in the quarter. Yet two Waves free throws and a trey from Mia Satie cut ISU's lead to two, 17-15.
In the second quarter, ISU struggled to find any sort of offensive rhythm, shooting 31 percent from the floor. However, the Bengals crashed the offensive glass hard, grabbing seven offensive rebounds, and kept control of the game with nine second-chance points. Kenyon was a major contributor for Idaho State in the second quarter, finishing with 10 points to help give ISU the 36-31 halftime lead.
Pepperdine (3-2) exploded in the third quarter, shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor for 30 points and the Waves dominated the Bengals inside, scoring 22 points in the paint and grabbing seven of their 16 offensive rebounds in the third quarter alone. Yet the Bengals continued to fight, drawing 10 fouls on the Waves and converting 11-of-18 free throws to keep the Waves within striking distance. With 3:20 remaining in the third, the game was tied 53-all, but a 9-2 Waves run put ISU down 61-55 to start the final quarter.
The Waves had another hot shooting quarter as they shot nearly 60 percent in the final quarter for 19 total points. With 4:07 to go, the Bengals faced their largest deficit of the season thus far at 12, 72-60. But Idaho State slowly chipped away at Pepperdine's lead, starting with a trey from Grandon with 3:31 remaining to cut the lead to nine, 72-63. A layup from Tapasa a minute later brought the Bengals within seven, and another layup, this time from Orss, 30 seconds later cut the Waves' lead to five, 72-67.
The Bengals were unable to get any closer as Pepperdine held on for the 80-74 win to deliver Idaho State its first loss of the season.
"We tried to make the best of a bad situation," Sobolewski said. "We tried to pressure and cause some turnovers. And they fought. I thought Grace [Kenyon] fought, Saylair [Grandon], Madison [Hinrichs] did a pretty good job of fighting and Estefania [Ors] was trying really hard. She was working really had; she gave a lot today."
Pepperdine was led in scoring and rebounding by Yasmine Robinson-Bacote with 34 points and 16 rebounds. Monique Andruiolo, Paige Fecske and Rose Pflug also finished in double-figures with 13, 11 and 10 respectively.
Idaho State returns home to face Utah State Monday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. in Reed Gym.
NOTES
- This is the second-straight contest that Saylair Grandon has led the Bengals in scoring. Grandon finished with 19 points to lead ISU at UC Irvine on Nov. 19.
- This is also the first time this season that the Bengals have not had a new high scorer. In every game prior this season, a new player earned team-high scoring honors.
- This game marks the first time this season that Idaho State has not shot over 40 percent from the floor. It was also the first time this season that the Bengals were out-rebounded as the Waves claimed a 47-41 rebounding edge.
