Women's Basketball Upends Northern Colorado to Advance to Semifinals

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  RENO, Nev. – Idaho State women's basketball once again pulled off an upset in the Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinal game, this time with a 60-59 victory over No. 3 Northern Colorado. The Bengals overcame 23 turnovers and shot nearly 50 percent to upend the Bears for the second-straight time this season.

Sophomore guard Saylair Grandon finished with a game-high 18 points off 8-for-11 from the field to go along with two boards and one steal. Sophomore guard Grace Kenyon added 16 points and six points while freshman guard Bianca Thacker chipped in 10 points and five boards.

"We try to control the controllables, play hard and try not to think too much this time of year," Head Coach Seton Sobolewski said. "Play loose and see how things play out. I think we've put together a pretty good system that makes us pretty good and gives us a chance to be pretty good in the postseason."

Idaho State (18-13) took the early lead with a trey from junior forward Lindsay Brown , but back-to-back baskets from Northern Colorado (22-8) put the Bears in front 4-3. The Bengals lived by the three ball in the first quarter, hitting 4-of-7 to shoot 57 percent from beyond-the-arc. ISU's second trey came at the 5:54 mark, this time from sophomore guard Britanny Kochenderfer, to tie the game 6-all. Despite committing six turnovers in the first quarter, Idaho State kept pace with the Bears and trailed by just two, 16-14, heading into the second quarter.

Grandon opened the second quarter with a layup 27 seconds in, but UNC put together an 11-1 run over the next 3:15 to gain its largest lead of the evening at 10, 27-17. The Bengals responded and hit four of their last six shot attempts to cut the Bears' lead to one, 29-28, to close the half.
The third quarter was back-and-forth with five lead changes and four ties; neither team led by more than three points. With eight seconds remaining, the Bengals ran a full-court press breaker to offset UNC's full-court press. Senior guard Freya Newton collided with UNC's Savannah Smith to draw the foul and Newton converted 2-of-2 at the charity stripe to take the 43-42 lead with five seconds left. The Bears inbounded to Savannah Smith who crossed the timeline and banked in a deep three to give the Bears a 45-43 lead heading into the fourth.

A jumper from Grandon at the 8:56 mark opened the fourth quarter for Idaho State, but UNC scored six unanswered over the next two minutes put ISU in a six-point hole, 51-45. Another Grandon bucket, this time a trey, brought the Bengals back within three with 6:34 remaining.

Fast forward 4:30 minutes and Northern Colorado still claimed a three-point advantage. Neither team scored over the next 2:10 seconds until a layup from UNC's Savannah Scott put the Bears up five with 52 seconds remaining. Five seconds later, a UNC foul put ISU's Kenyon to the line where the hit both to once more bring the Bengals within three, 58-55.

Idaho State forced a Bears' turnover on the ensuing possession opening the doors for the Bengals. Thacker got the ball on the left wing, squared up and hit the open three to tie the game 58-all with 38 seconds remaining. Next it was the Bears to capitalize, drawing a foul to send Courtney Smith, a 94 percent free throw shooter, to the line. Smith made 1-of-2 and ISU called a timeout with 17 seconds remaining.

The Bengals inbounded the ball to Newton who held it at half court and ran the clock down to about 10 seconds. Newton passed to Grandon at the top of the key and she went to work. Grandon dribbled to the right elbow, stopped, popped and sunk a 12-footer to put ISU up 60-59 with 2.2 seconds left. Northern Colorado called a timeout to advance the ball, but the Bears look was just short to give ISU the thrilling one-point victory.

"Our coach just wanted us to hold the ball and wait to get a good, open-look shot," Grandon said. "When I had the ball at the end, it was just reading the defense. It just felt like it should be taken."

Three players finished in double figures for Northern Colorado led by Courtney Smith with 17 points, four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal. Savannah Scott added 15 points while Savannah Smith chipped in 10.

Idaho State continues its postseason run Friday, March 10 against No. 7 Portland State at 3:30 p.m. MST in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nev. Portland State upset second-seeded North Dakota 65-62 earlier in the evening.
 
NOTES

• Idaho State improves to 3-0 against Northern Colorado all-time in the Big Sky Conference tournament. ISU's previous wins came in 2012 with a 49-46 win in the championship game and in 2016 with a 54-45 win in the first round.
• The Bengals improve to 13-2 on the season when limiting their opponent to 60 points or less.
• This was the Grandon's 13th double-figure scoring effort of the season.
• Idaho State out-rebounded Northern Colorado 29-24. It's the 28th time this season the Bengals have out-rebounded their opponent, and they carry a 17-11 record when they win the battle of the boards.