POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State (3-4) dominated Benedictine-Mesa (2-2) in front of 2,075 screaming students and fans at the second-annual Field Trip Game Thursday morning. The Bengals fell just shy of a 50 percent shooting percentage while sinking 41.2 percent of their three-point attempts.
"I know we scored 88 points, but [with] the changing of the defenses it wasn't a cut and dry game," said Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski. "There was a lot of adjusting that we had to try to make and figure out…they had a lot of different defensive looks out there that we had to adjust to. I think putting the young team through that, when you had the young group on the floor, was good for them to go through that. In a lot of ways I think it was a really healthy game for us."
Estefania Ors returned to the lineup and tallied her highest scoring output since becoming a starter with 22 points after burying four of her five three-point attempts. The junior was 7-11 overall and added three rebounds and assists.
Grace Kenyon,
Sai Tapasa and
Montana Oltrogge also reached double figures with Kenyon scoring 15 and Tapasa and Oltrogge each collecting 11 points. Kenyon was one rebound shy of her second double-double this season while Oltrogge and Tapasa combined for seven boards.
Madison Hinrichs never turned over the ball and added seven points and a career-high six assists.
Callie Bourne chipped in for six points and four assists.
Nearly 1,400 students from eight elementary and middle schools helped fill the stands. The crowd of 2,075 was the largest for a women's basketball game in Reed Gym since they won the 2012 conference championship as the host team.
"It was a huge success," Sobolewski said. "I'd like to see it keep growing and get more schools involved. Maybe we could even get to a point where we have two field trip games a year. I thought it was tremendous and the kids were great. They really made it fun."
Three minutes into the game, ISU led by just one, but they stretched the lead to double-digits after Oltrogge buried a mid-range shot. The freshman scored five points and five different players made a basket as ISU used a 13-2 run to stretch the lead to 19-8. They allowed the Redhawks to score just once in the final four minutes and returned to the bench with a 21-10 lead.
Benedictine-Mesa held its own in the second period of play, allowing Idaho State to extend the lead by just four points while matching ISU in rebounding. Tapasa and Hinrichs took charge for the Bengals before the half.
In just four minutes, Tapasa made three shots and completed an unconventional three-point play for seven of ISU's 16 points. Hinrichs scored five of her seven points in the quarter with a buzzer-beating three and ISU headed to the locker room with a 37-22 advantage.
The Bengals controlled the game in the third quarter, doubling the lead within six minutes of the period. Kenyon scored nine while Ors went a perfect 4-4 from three. ISU began the quarter with a 14-3 run and led 67-34 by the end.
Two Bengals scored the first points of their careers in the fourth with
Kaitlyn Bell finding the net in the paint and
Nuria Barrientos sinking a pair of free throws. ISU scored 14 of its 21 points in the key and sealed an 88-51 win in its home opener.
"That's one of the challenges within a game like this," Sobolewski said. "The challenge is to keep taking it seriously. You're up 30 and your coach is still yelling at you to do better and sometimes it's really tough to execute from that standpoint."
No Idaho State player had more than three turnovers in the game with six players posting a clean sheet. ISU had just 11 turnovers overall while forcing 17 from the Redhawks.
ISU had a 49.2 field goal percentage while limiting BEN to 34 percent. Benedictine-Mesa was even hotter than Idaho State from beyond the arc with a 46.7 three-point percentage.
The Bengals tallied 22 assists on 31 made field goals and owned the boards with 46 rebounds to the Benedictine-Mesa's 24. Five different players for ISU also tallied a block while BEN collected two.
No player reached double figures for Benedictine-Mesa with Rebecca Herrera, Stephanie Orji and Juwanna Milton leading the team with eight points apiece. Herrera and Orji were also the top rebounders for the Redhawks with five boards each.
Idaho State returns to Reed Gym next week for its final two nonconference games. The Bengals host Utah Valley Thursday and Pepperdine Saturday.
