POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State and Eastern Washington are set to clash in Big Sky Conference play during the closing hours of 2018 on Monday night. The Bengals and Eagles will tip off at 6:05 p.m. on Community Night with tickets on sale at $1 apiece.
Wear Orange
Bengal fans are encouraged to participate in the Orange Out and Bingham Memorial Hospital will be handing out t-shirts to the first 1,500 fans.
How to Follow
The game will be streamed on
Watch Big Sky TV and
Pluto TV Channel 243.
Mark Liptak and
Brad Bugger will call the game on KISU 91.1 FM and
Stretch Internet with pregame coverage starting 25 minutes before the tip. Live stats will also be
available here.
Last Time Out
Idaho State had its three-game winning streak snapped in an 86-72 loss to Idaho on Saturday night. It was the first loss for the Bengals inside Reed Gym this season.
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Grace Kenyon led Idaho State with 27 points, tying her career record. The senior played 39 minutes and made a career-high 12 free throws while adding seven boards.
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Estefania Ors and
Saylair Grandon also reached double figures, combining for 27 points. Grandon added five rebounds and tallied both of ISU's blocks while Ors added four assists.
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Nuria Barrientos came off the bench and secured two career highs with eight points and six rebounds. The redshirt freshman also collected her first steal.
-ISU struggled shooting with a 33.3 field goal percentage, but committed just nine turnovers, its lowest total in a game this season.
Idaho State This Season
The Bengals are now 5-5 with an 0-1 record. Despite losing their conference opener, they have won four of their last six contests and are 3-1 in Reed Gym.
-Kenyon, Grandon and Ors are still the scoring leaders, combining for 38.1 points per contest with Kenyon leading the way at 13.7 points per game.
Sai Tapasa follows the trio with 8.7 points per game.
-Kenyon also leads the team with six rebounds per contest while Grandon and Tapasa average 5.5 and 5.2 respectively.
-Kenyon and Grandon hold the team leads in assists, blocks and steals. The senior duo has combined for 58 assists, 12 blocks and 23 steals.
-Five Idaho State players are shooting over 40.0 from the field including Barrientos, Kenyon,
Madison Hinrichs,
Ellie Smith and
Delaney Moore. Moore leads the team with a 65.4 field goal percentage (17-26). Kenyon, who has the second most field goal attempts with 101, is shooting 48.5 percent from the floor.
-Idaho State has committed the 41st fewest fouls in the nation with 162 this season. The Bengals are also No. 52 in fewest turnovers with 152. Additionally, ISU leads the conference and is No. 74 in field goal percentage (43.4) while ranking second in the BSC and No. 96 in three-point field goal percentage (33.3).
-Eight players are averaging 10 or more minutes per game with Kenyon, Grandon, Hinrichs and Ors all surpassing a 30-minute average. Moore and
Montana Oltrogge are the only two players without multiple starts to average double-digit minutes.
-Idaho State averages 64.5 points, 33.8 rebounds, 14.8 assists, 5.8 steals, 2.5 blocks and 16.1 turnovers per game. The Bengals are shooting 42.2 percent from the floor, 34.0 percent from three and 72.1 percent from the free-throw line this season.
-The Bengals were picked to finish third in the Big Sky Coaches' Preseason Poll and fourth by the media.
-Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski is in his 11th season with the program and carries a 176-147 overall record. He has led the team to two postseason tournament appearances: one NCAA tournament berth and one WNIT tournament appearance.
Series Record
Overall: 36-41 | Home: 21-15 | Streak: EWU W3 | Last Meeting: Cheney, Wash. Loss 66-64
-Eastern Washington holds a slight edge in the all-time series thanks to a string of recent victories and a 17-1 streak during the 80's. The Eagles have won five of the last six contests including both the lone matchup last season and the past three games. EWU has escaped with narrow victories in the past two meetings. The Eagles defeated ISU 61-58 in Pocatello in 2017 and 66-64 in Cheney, Wash. last year.
Scouting Eastern Washington
Overall: 2-8 | Home: 1-3 | Away: 1-3 | Neutral: 0-2 | Streak: W1
-Eastern Washington ended nonconference play on a seven-game losing streak but broke the skid with a 64-58 win over Weber State on the road. They enter the contest at 2-8 overall, and their win over Weber State was their first outside of Cheney, Wash.
-EWU uses the long ball liberally with 42.8 percent of its field goal attempts coming from beyond the arc. Three-pointers account for nearly 40 percent of the team's scoring output this season and six players have at least 30 3-point attempts. EWU also attacks the glass on offense with over a third of its boards coming on its half of the court.
-The Eagles are led by Violet Kapri Morrow who is collecting 16.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. She is also one of five players with 10 or more steals despite missing two games.
-Grace Kirscher and Jessica McDowell-White are nearing 100 points for the season and averaging 9.6 and 9.3 points per game respectively. McDowell-White is the primary facilitator on offense with a team-leading 23 assists.
-Both Uriah Howard and Alissa Sealby are averaging about 7.5 points and five rebounds. The latter also has 11 blocks and 10 steals.
-Eight EWU players have appeared in every contest and eight players are averaging double-digit minutes. Morrow and Sealby lead the team with 31 minutes per contest.
-Eastern Washington is shooting 35.2 percent from the field, 29.0 percent from three and 66.4 percent from the free throw line this season. Meanwhile, opponents have shot 44.5 percent against the Eagles' defense. EWU averages 55.5 points, 33.3 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 7.5 steals, 3.4 blocks and 19.4 turnovers per game.
-Head Coach Wendy Schuller is in her 18th season at the helm of EWU's program and carries a 256-267 overall record.
Important Numbers for Eastern Washington
The Eagles magic number thus far has been 60 points. They haven't won a game when failing to reach that mark, but are 2-1 when surpassing it.
-EWU has also forced more than 20 turnovers just twice. Both games resulted in a victory.
-Opponents have failed to reach 10 assists just three times against Eastern Washington. Two of those games were EWU wins.
