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POCATELLO, Idaho- Idaho State women's basketball hosts Montana on Feb. 15 in Reed Gym at 2 p.m. (MST).

The game will feature live stats, video, and audio brought to you by Mark Liptak and KISU 91.1. The pregame show will begin approximately 20 minutes before game time.

Scouting Montana
Montana currently sits fourth in the Big Sky conference, just place ahead of ISU. The Lady Griz have tallied a 14-9 record so far in the 2019-20 season and are 9-5 in the Big Sky.

UM leads the Big Sky in assist/turnover ratio (1.28) while ranking second in assists (16.0 pg) and free throw percentage (.752).  The Lady Griz rank third in turnover margin (+2.43) and several rebounding categories: defensive rebound percentage (.720), and rebounding defense (35 pg), and rebounding margin (+2.7)

Nationally, Montana ranks No. 15 in assist-to-turnover ratio, No. 20 in turnovers and No. 25 in free throw percentage.

Overall, the team is producing 68.5 points per game while shooting 564-1363 (.414) from the field, 117-389 (.345) from three and 331-440 (.752) from the free-throw line.

Sophia Stiles, Abby Anderson, McKenzie Johnston, Madi Schoening, and Emma Stockholm are the projected starters for Montana.

Stiles leads UM and is No. 7 in the conference in steals with 1.7 per game. She had a team-high four steals against Idaho State earlier this season.

Anderson leads Montana in blocks with 1.7 per game, ranking her No. 6 in the conference. She scored four points against ISU in 16 minutes played.

Johnston is the team's leading scorer and is No. 8 in the conference, averaging 13.0 points per game, with a team-high and conference third-best .466 field-goal percentage.  She also leads the team in three-point percentage (.425). She averages a a team-best five assists per game. Johnston ranks nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.26) and is 55th nationally in assists. She put up 11 points against ISU this season.

Stockholm added 10 points for UM earlier this season against the Bengals while grabbing a team-high seven boards. She leads the Lady Griz in boards, averaging 5.6 per game.

The game is one of the biggest of the season for ISU. With Montana just one game ahead, a Bengal victory would give ISU the tiebreaker over Montana which could be beneficial when it comes to postseason positioning and future opponents.

History
The two teams matched-up earlier this season on Jan. 23 in Missoula, Mont., where the Bengals walked away with a 67-53 victory at Dahlberg Arena for just the fourth time in program history. ISU only trailed by a point at the half before breaking things open in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter where they outscored UM, 21-11. ISU also out rebounded Montana 41-33 and scored 34 points in the paint. Montana Oltrogge led ISU with 18 points on 8-12 shooting. Diaba Konate followed with 15 and Callie Bourne put up 14 while each of them grabbed seven boards. Ellie Smith tied a career high with nine rebounds.

Montana leads the all-time series, 72-13, with both teams splitting the last 10 games. ISU has won four of the last five meetings. Head Coach Seton Sobolewski is 7-18 in his career against the Lady Grizzlies, representing 53 percent of all the wins the Bengals have ever recorded against Montana. 

All-Time Series Results
ISU vs. MSU (Since 2009)
    01/15/09    A    L    48-70    
*    02/21/09    H    L    39-73    
24+    03/13/09    A    L    56-70    
*    01/04/10    A    L    55-63    
*    02/06/10    H    L    53-67    
*    01/20/11    A    L    54-61    
*    02/19/11    H    L    60-63    
24+    03/10/11    N    L    53-66    
*    01/07/12    A    W    58-51    
*    02/06/12    H    W    54-48    
*    01/24/13    H    L    57-52    
*    02/16/13    A    L    61-49    
*    01/23/14    A    L    67-48    
*    02/22/14    H    L    76-67    
*    01/10/15    A    L    65-77    
*    02/19/15    H    L    51-69    
+    03/11/15    A    L    67-69    
*    02/25/16    A    L    62-47    
*    12/29/16    H    W    61-43    
*    03/03/17    A    L    53-68    
+    03/06/17    N    W    63-53    
*    03/02/18    H    W    72-60    
*    01/24/19    H    W    50-34    Lowest point total by DI opponent
*    02/16/19    A    L    60-59    
    01/23/20    A    W    67-53
    
Big Time Bengals
National Rankings (As of Feb. 11)
Idaho State is No. 11 in three-point field goal percentage (.376), No. 42 in field goal percentage (.439), No. 53 in assists per game (15.3), No. 55 in 3-point field goal defense (.285).

ISU in the Big Sky 
No. 1: FG % (.436), 3pt FG % (.369), 3pt FG Defense %: (.288) 

No. 2: Scoring Margin (+6.6), Rebounding Defense (799 - 34.7 per game) 

No. 3: Assists (346- 15.0 per game), FG % defense (.375), Scoring defense (61.9 ppg)

Bourne is eighth in rebounds (160 - 6.9 pg), fourth in defensive boards (128 - 5.6 pg) and No. 12 in scoring (12.7 ppg). Goles is second in 3-pointers made (53), fourth in steals (50 - 2.2 pg), and No. 13 in assists (71 - 3.1 pg). Smith is fourth in blocked shots (42). Konate ranks 10th in assists (78 - 3.4 pg) and nith in steals (37 - 1.6pg). 

Trends
Bourne has recorded double-digit points the last twelve games and has reached double-digit points in all but four games this season. Goles has produced double-digits in ten of 14 conference games while Konate follows with double-digits in six conference games including a career-high 32 points against NAU on Feb. 6. 

The Bengals have out-rebounded their opponents in all but eight of their 23 games so far this season.

Recap: Montana State
ISU fell to Montana State, 74-55, on Thursday night in Reed Gym. The Bobcats went 16-20 from the free-throw line while the Bengals were just 3-3. Both teams combined for 38 turnovers.

The leading scorers for the Bengals were Bourne with 17,Goles with 14 and Konate with 10. Those were the only players for ISU to score in double-digits. Bourne's 17-point game marks her 12th consecutive double-digit game.

2019-20 Big Sky Rankings
School                        Big Sky    Pct.    Overall    Home    Away    Streak
Montana State            12-1        0.923    16-6       8-2        8-3        W8
Northern Arizona        10-4        0.714    13-10    5-4        7-5        W2
Idaho                           9-4        0.692    14-8        7-2        7-4        W1
Montana                      9-5        0.643    14-9        8-5        6-3        W3
Idaho State                 8-6        0.571    12-11        6-4        6-7        L1
Southern Utah            6-7        0.462    12-10        8-2        4-8        L1
Portland State             6-7        0.462    12-11        7-5        5-5        L3
Northern Colorado      6-7        0.462    10-12        3-6        7-6        L1
Sacramento State       6-8        0.429    8-15        4-6        4-9        W1
Eastern Washington   1-12        0.077    2-20        2-8        0-11        L12
Weber State               1-13        0.071    3-20        1-8        2-12        L10