Women's Basketball Defeats Montana on Senior Night

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POCATELLO, Idaho -- The Idaho State women's basketball team defeated Montana 72-60 Saturday evening in front of 1,139 fans at the ICCU Court at Reed Gym in the last regular-season game of the season.

"It was exactly what you want Senior Night to be like," Head Coach Seton Sobolewski said. "Great crowd -- 1,100 people -- Brooke played well and we won and send her off the right way."

Idaho State (19-10, 11-7 BSC) finished with four players in double figures led by junior forward Grace Kenyon with 17 points, going 7-of-7 from the field and including 1-of-1 from three. Senior guard Brooke Blair followed with 14 points, sophomore guard Estefania Ors with 1, and sophomore guard Dora Goles with 11 points.

Montana (13-16, 9-9 BSC) would make score first, but the Bengals would follow with a 12-0 run, including eight points alone from Blair, holding the Grizzlies without another bucket until the 3:01 mark of the first period. Montana ended its scoring run, finishing with a 7-5 run to give ISU the 19-12 lead heading into the second.

The second period would start off with a jumper by sophomore Sai Tapasa, with Montana responding with a jumper. The Grizzlies would score 13 points in the second, with the Bengals scoring 14 points on 46.2 percent shooting to head into the break leading 33-25.

Idaho State came out of the half on fire, connecting for 7-of-11 to shoot 63.6 percent from the floor including 75 percent from long range. The Bengals would hold Montana to 30.8 percent from the field for only 14 points. With four minutes remaining in the third, Idaho State found a 15 point lead (49-34) after back-to-back tres by Goles. The Bengals would find their largest lead of the game at 17 points with 42 seconds to play in the period.

Montana responded with a 6-0 run to open the fourth quarter with no response from the Bengals until a jumper by freshman forward Delaney Moore with 6:28 to play. The Grizzlies would shoot 57 percent from the field 21 points, twice cutting ISU's lead to seven in the final four minutes. ISU shot 41.7 percent from the floor for 16 points to hold off UM's late run for the 72-60 Senior Night win.

"We played hard, and Montana fought tooth and nail, especially they really gave us a run for our money in the fourth quarter," Sobolewski said. "It was good to come up on top on that one."

The Grizzlies were led by McKenzie Johnston with 15 points, and Emma Stockhom with 10.

Idaho State clinched the fifth seed with its win over Montana Friday evening, and the Bengals will face No. 12 Southern Utah Monday, March 5 at 3:35 p.m. MST in the first round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nev.

NOTES

• Idaho State shot 52.1 percent for the game which marks the ninth time this season that ISU has shot 50 percent or higher from the floor. So far this season, ISU's best shooting performance 61.2 percent at Portland State on Jan. 18.
• Kenyon's 17 points marks the 22nd time this season she has reached double figures and the 58th time in her career.
• For the 10th time this season, ISU was out-rebounded by its opponent. The Bengals are now 4-6 in games in which they are outrebounded.