TUCSON, Ariz. – The Idaho State women's basketball team fell 66-56 to Arizona inside the McKale Center Thursday night in the opening round of the WNIT. The loss ends Idaho State's (20-11) stellar season while Arizona (19-13) will continue to the round of 32 against Pacific.
"I thought we started off the game with a lot of nerves," said Head Coach
Seton Sobolewski. "You know we dropped some passes and missed a couple layups, and it took us a while to kind of settle in and shake out of that."
The teams were nearly equal from the floor with each posting a 37.0 field-goal percentage. However, the difference came at the free-throw line once again. The Wildcats toed the line for 32 attempts and made 26. Idaho State was 9-12 from the charity stripe.
The Bengals trailed by as many as 21 points, but used a 13-0 run fueled by
Saylair Grandon and
Sai Tapasa to pull within single digits. Grandon had nine points and Tapasa added four during the third-quarter run.
Idaho State continued to hang with Arizona until the 5:03 mark in the final period of play. At that point, the Wildcats reclaimed the double-digit lead and did not allow the advantage to shrink below 10 points for the remainder of play.
"Finally, over halftime, we settled in a bit and started playing a bit more like us," Sobolewski said. "Our defense in the second half was exceptional, we played great defense. We outscored them, we held them to 25 percent shooting in the third quarter and then 27 percent shooting in the fourth. It was a tremendous second-half effort and we made it interesting."
Grandon led the charge for Idaho State with 22 points after going 8-19 from the field including 5-7 from three-point range. The senior also tallied four rebounds and three assists in her final game. Tapasa and
Estefania Ors each scored 12 points and collected four boards.
The Wildcats were paced by Cate Reese who posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Aari McDonald also chipped in for 15 points and five rebounds.
Although Idaho State loses Grandon, Tapasa,
Madison Hinrichs and
Grace Kenyon, the 2019-20 roster will have an abundance of players ready to leave their own marks on the program.
"This was a great season for us," Sobolewski said. "We won 20 games in the regular season and that's a big deal, especially when you play such a tough schedule. Obviously, there are the tough teams in our conference, but then you've got Georgia Tech, Arizona, Gonzaga and Utah. Considering the teams that we've played and how tough the Big Sky was this year, to scratch out 20 wins is a big deal for us. It ranks up there with one of the top seasons we've had in a long time."
