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RENO, Nev. – The magical Big Sky Conference Tournament run has come to an end for women's basketball as the Bengals fell to No. 1 Northern Colorado 73-66 in the semifinals Friday afternoon at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nev. Idaho State nearly completed another miraculous comeback after being down by as many as 18 points, but the Bears halted ISU's final attempts to seal the win.
"Northern Colorado did a good job of responding," Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski said. "Anytime we got some traction, they hit a shot. I thought we had some shots right there at the rim late that could have even cut it to one or tied the game. But they didn't go in for us today."
Idaho State (21-11) struggled to find any sort of offensive rhythm to open the game, shooting just 27 percent from the floor for seven points in the opening quarter. Northern Colorado (25-6) poured in 19 first-quarter points and forced six of ISU's 16 total turnovers in the opening period for 11 points off turnovers alone.
A quick 6-2 Bengal run to open the second period cut UNC's lead to eight (21-13) with 8:32 to go, but the Bears exploded to put together a 12-2 over the next 5:53 to take its largest lead of the afternoon at 18, 33-15. ISU shooting woes continued in the second quarter as the Bengals connected on just 4-of-16 from the floor including 1-of-5 from long range. ISU was able to chip away at the Bears' lead and faced a 15-point deficit (36-21) heading into the break.
"Especially because we just came off of Wednesday's game, we just tried to stay optimistic and confident win ourselves," junior guard
Saylair Grandon.
In a similar fashion to Wednesday's miraculous come-from-behind victory over Weber State, Idaho State started to chip away at the lead in the third quarter. The Bengals heated up offensively, converting 8-of-12 attempts to shoot 66 percent from the floor for 19 third-quarter points. Grandon alone was 4-of-5 for 10 points. Defensively, ISU started to slow down Northern Colorado, limiting the Bears to 35 percent shooting for 16 points. By the end of the quarter, ISU trailed by 12 (52-40).
Northern Colorado extended its lead to 16 points at the 8:03 mark of the fourth following an old-fashioned three-point play from UNC's Bridget Hintz, but Idaho State battled back, putting together an 8-0 to cut the lead to single digits (58-50) for the first time since the 8:32 mark of the second period. Sophomore guard
Dora Goles, who scored nine of her 15 points in the final quarter, finished a layup with 2:49 remaining to bring the deficit to seven (65-58).
Nearly 30 seconds later, senior guard
Brooke Blair stole a pass from UNC's Tiarna Clarke to give the Bengals another offensive opportunity. Grandon went to work, driving into the middle of the lane for the easy two, cutting the lead to five (65-50). The two teams traded free throws over the next two minutes, and ISU would cut the lead to five three more times in the final minutes, but the Bears would not allow Idaho State to come any closer. UNC converted 2-of-4 at the charity stripe in the final 10 seconds to seal the 73-66 win.
"Northern Colorado finished the game like a No. 1 seed," Grandon said. "They played tough all throughout the game."
Idaho State finished with four players in double-figures led by Grandon with 23 points off 8-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-6 from long range to go along with a game-high nine rebounds. Goles added a career-high tying 15 points, five rebounds and three assists while sophomore guard
Estefania Ors added 11 points. Junior forward
Grace Kenyon added 10 points, eight boards and four assists. The Bengals out-rebounded the Bears 38-30 and outscored UNC 45-37 in the second half.
Northern Colorado was led by Savannah Smith with 23 points while Kianna Williams and Krystal Leger-Walker added 13 and 10 points respectively.
"We are extremely proud of our team," Sobolewski said. "They did a great job this season. 21 wins is the second-best season in the last 10 years. The year was marked with a lot of amazing accomplishments."
Idaho State will find out late Monday, March 12 if it will earn a bid to a postseason tournament. Check isubengals.com for all the latest updates and information.
NOTES
- Saylair Grandon finished with 20-plus points for the second-straight game and the third time this season. It marks the eight time in her career that she has scored at least 20 points.
- Grandon also tied her career-high in three-pointers made with four.
- ISU's 38-30 edge on the glass marked the 20th time this season the Bengals have outrebounded their opponent. ISU now carries a 15-5 record in games that it outrebounds its opponent.
- The Bears shot 46.6 percent for the game to ISU's 43.1 percent. Idaho State is now 2-8 this season in games in which it records a lower shooting percentage than its opponent.
