POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State women's basketball team dropped its first game in nearly three weeks with a narrow 81-77 loss to Northern Arizona in Reed Gym Thursday night. The Bengals are now 14-7 overall with a 9-3 Big Sky Conference mark. Northern Arizona improved to 7-14 and 3-9 in BSC play.
Grace Kenyon led Idaho State with her fourth double-double of the season after tallying 18 points and 10 rebounds. She also added six assists, two blocks and two steals in 32 minutes of play.
Three others reached double figures including
Estefania Ors and
Saylair Grandon. The two combined for 29 points and 11 rebounds. Grandon matched Kenyon's output in assists with six of her own.
Delaney Moore was the final Bengal in double-digits with 12 points.
Northern Arizona was lights out from the field with a 46.3 field goal percentage and a 65.0 three-point field goal percentage. However, Idaho State was more efficient with a 49.2 field goal percentage while shooting 63.6 percent from three. A key difference lay at the charity stripe. NAU was 18-23 from the free throw line while ISU finished 8-13.
Northern Arizona took the early advantage after making six of its seven three-point attempts in the first quarter. The Lumberjacks led by 13 points on three different occasions in the first half, but Idaho State used a 13-3 run at the end of the second quarter to take its first lead heading into the locker room.
The lead was exchanged six times in the third and Idaho State opened a six-point advantage late in the quarter while limiting NAU to a 29.4 field goal percentage. The Bengals battled to the final buzzer, but the 'Jacks took the lead and never looked back with 5:29 remaining in the game.
This was just the second home loss for Idaho State this season. The Bengals came into the game undefeated when they out blocked their opponent, held a higher field goal percentage than their opponent and led at halftime. Tonight, they did all three despite the outcome.
Northern Arizona was paced by Jacey Bailey and Regan Schenck. Bailey scored a career-high 25 points and was 7-12 from three-point range, making as many long balls as her former career-high in attempts. Schenck nearly doubled her previous career high with 23 points off the bench. She entered the game averaging 6.0 points. Caitlin Malvar and Khiarica Rasheed combined for 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Idaho State has not lost back-to-back games since mid-November and will look to bounce back against Southern Utah Saturday afternoon. The Bengals and Thunderbirds tip-off at 2:05 p.m. in ISU's annual PINK game.
Idaho State players will don pink accessories in support of women's cancer. The team encourages fans to help them Pink Out Reed Gym for the game. For more details about the PINK game,
click here.
