TUCSON, ARIZONA – Idaho State (1-1) fell to Arizona (1-0) 71-46 in front of 1,226 fans at the McKale Center Friday night. The Bengals had a strong defensive showing, forcing 23 turnovers with seven steals, but struggled in the offensive half of the court.
"I think at times our defense was great," said Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski. "Two out of those four quarters it was really good. We started off the game really well in the first half in terms of our defense…We just really struggled on offense today. We had a lot of great open looks and didn't make many of them."
Saylair Grandon was the only Idaho State player to eclipse 10 points with 17 on the night. The senior also had a team-high seven rebounds and 37 minutes of play.
Callie Bourne and
Madison Hinrichs both had nine points and combined for nine rebounds.
Grace Kenyon followed with seven points and six boards.
The Bengals shot 27 percent from the field and made just one three-point attempt on 18 tries. Idaho State scored a third of its points from the free throw line as both teams combined for 45 fouls. ISU also had two blocks and seven assists on the night.
"I thought we played really hard at times and we're not almost 30 points worse than these guys," Sobolewski said. "It got out of control because we had to play faster and left some things open. We were able to turn them over. We ended up having 23 turnovers so that was really good on our end of it."
The Wildcats shot 40 percent from the floor and 45 percent from three in their season opener. They held the advantage on the boards (45-37) and forced 24 turnovers with 10 steals.
Grandon scored the first three points of the game as Idaho State held Arizona scoreless through the first two minutes of play. Arizona was unable to find the basket for the next three minutes as well due to tough defense from ISU and a string of turnovers.
Bourne put Idaho State up 9-7 with a little over four minutes left in the first quarter of play and then Arizona got hot. The Wildcats scored 13 unanswered points to end the quarter with a 20-9 lead.
Hinrichs and Bourne cut the lead to single digits as Idaho State allowed just five points in the first seven minutes of the second quarter. The deep shooting hurt ISU late once again as Arizona tacked on 11 points in the final 2:32 of play in the first half. Arizona made eight three-point attempts in the half while shooting 53.3 percent from behind the arc.
Idaho State improved to a 40 percent field goal percentage in the second half although Arizona was able to widen the gap as the Wildcats cruised to a 71-46 win.
Aari McDonald and Cate Reese led all players with 22 and 21 points respectively. Both posted double-doubles with 10 rebounds apiece.
Idaho State returns home for a short time before traveling to Spokane, Wash. to face the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Bengals and Zags play inside the McCarthey Athletic Center at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.
Other Notes
Montana Oltrogge scored her first points as a Bengal.
