Box Score PDF
GREELEY, Colo. – The Idaho State women's basketball team upended the Northern Colorado Saturday afternoon in Greeley, Colo. with a 68-58 victory over the Big Sky leaders. The Bengals never trailed in the contest and shot a superb 52.4 percent from the floor and dominated the boards 41-21 to keep the Bears at bay.
"I'm extremely proud of how we took that setback [against North Dakota] and bounced back, played harder, and did a better job on the glass [against Northern Colorado]," Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski said. "We modified the Joe Paterno quote in the locker room; it's 'When your game is lost, something is lost, but when your character is lost, all is lost.' We didn't want to lose our character; we kind of lost our character at North Dakota, but we got back to being tough [against Northern Colorado]."
Idaho State (15-10, 9-5 BSC) was led by senior guard
Freya Newton with a career- and game-high 16 points off 6-of-9 from the floor and 2-of-3 from beyond-the-arc. Newton also finished with three boards, three steals, one block and one assist. Freshman guard
Estefania Ors and junior forward
Lindsay Brown also finished in double-figures with 11 each, while sophomore guard
Grace Kenyon finished with a game-high seven assists, eight points, five rebounds and two blocks.
"
Freya Newton had an amazing game today," Sobolewski said. "This might be her best game ever. When you have your best game ever against the best team in the conference, that feels pretty good."
The Bengals took control early, slowing the tempo down and often scoring near the end of the 30-second shot clock. In the first quarter, Idaho State raced out to a 15-4 lead after converting six of its first seven shots in the first 5:13. ISU offensive prowess put Northern Colorado (20-6, 12-3 BSC) on its heels, and the Bengals extended their lead to as many as 14 in the first quarter. Once the Bears regained their composure, they put together a 14-0 spanning 5:34 to tie the game 20-all at the 7:32 mark of the second quarter.
Idaho State ended its scoring drought with a trey from sophomore guard
Britanny Kochenderfer at the 7:06 mark of the second quarter, and a layup from sophomore guard
Isabel Vara de Rey a minute later put the Bengals up five, 25-20. ISU closed the quarter outscoring the Bears 6-4 to head into the break with a 31-24 lead.
Northern Colorado opened the third quarter with a layup from Savannah Scott at the 9:09 mark to cut ISU's lead to five points but that is as close as the Bears would come in the third. Idaho State limited UNC to eight third-quarter points and 20 percent shooting including 0-for-4 from three, and the Bengals extended their lead to 10 at the close of the third.
Idaho State all but put the game away in the start of the fourth as Newton rattled off five straight points to extend the lead to 13, 50-37 with 6:16 remaining. A layup from Ors and a trey from Newton extended that lead to 16 points with 5:08 remaining, but the Bears pulled out a full-court press and forced three Bengal turnovers in the next 2:37 to spark a 13-4 run and cut ISU lead to seven, 59-52 with 2:26 remaining.
Despite Northern Colorado's efforts, the Bengals kept their composure and continued to hit shots and convert free throws to retain their lead. Idaho State controlled the tempo and outscored UNC 6-3 over the final minute to seal the 68-58 road win.
"We had to be patient," Sobolewski said. "You don't want to give a team as good as Northern Colorado a lot of possessions. If you shoot really fast, then they get more shots and they are one of the leading teams in the conference in field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage. You don't want to give a team like that a lot of attempts."
Northern Colorado was led by Kianna Williams and Savannah Smith with 13 points each while Courtney Smith chipped in 10 points.
Idaho State is back in action Thursday, Feb. 23 against in-state rival Idaho at 7 p.m. at the ICCU Court in Reed Gym.
NOTES
- Coming into the game, Northern Colorado led the Big Sky in three-point field goal percentage at 35.7 percent. The Bengals held the Bears to 7-of-24 shooting from beyond-the-arc for 29.2 percent, well below their season average.
- Idaho State out-rebounded Northern Colorado 41-21 for a 20-rebound advantage. That is the second-largest rebounding margin posted by the Bengals this season; the largest was +29 against Sacramento State on Feb. 11.
- This is the seventh-straight game that Idaho State has shot at least 70 percent from the charity stripe. This season, the Bengals carry a 9-6 record when they shoot at least 70 percent from the free throw line, including a 6-1 record over the last seven games.
- This is the second time in two seasons that the Bengals have defeated the conference's leading squad. Last season, Idaho State upset No. 1 Montana State in the Big Sky Conference tournament, 52-50.
