BOISE, Idaho — The heavy favorites entering the Big Sky Conference tournament are now one game away from going dancing.
Since the Big Sky went to a neutral site tournament six springs ago, Idaho State has made a living at busting the bracket. The Bengals have made run after run despite middling seeds, proof that head coach Seton Sobolewski’s teams improve as the season goes on.
This season, Idaho State established themselves as a rising Mid-Major power. At one point, ISU ripped off 14 straight victories. And the Bengals finished this unorthodox season with just two league losses in 17 Big Sky outings to win outright regular-season champion, the second of Sobolewski’s 13-year tenure.
The Bengals entered this week’s Big Sky Tournament at Idaho Central Arena as the top seed expected to march to the championship game.
Idaho State cruised past Portland State on Tuesday night before running into a physical, athletic and hungry Northern Colorado team led by league MVP Alisha Davis. The Bears put forth their best upset bit, but Idaho State did not falter.
Instead, the Bengals answered every challenge from UNC, keeping the upset bid at bay by emerging with a 65-55 victory in the first of two Big Sky Tournament semifinals on Wednesday night.
“It’s so exciting,” ISU junior Callie Bourne said. “We have been working for it all year. Hardly any of us have been in this position before. We are looking forward to what’s next.”
The victory boosts Idaho State into the tournament championship game for the fourth time in Sobolewski’s career. The balanced, physical and disciplined Bengals again used a balanced scoring attack and a team-first mentality to survive and advance. The top seed awaits the winner of Wednesday’s night cap between No. 2 Idaho and No. 3 Montana State.
“I guess good (laughs). You did what people expected you to do,” Sobolewski said. “But I also know how hard it is even if you are the No. 1 seed to make it this way. Years ago, when we played in Reno, we knocked out several No. 1 seeds. I remember going in as a No. 9 seed (and eliminating No. 1 Montana State) and making it to the championship game.
“It’s hard because everybody empties the tank this time of year in this tournament.”
Northern Colorado hung tough from the outset, closing the first quarter with the score knotted 17-17.
ISU senior Estafania Ors hit a 3-point with 2:28 left in the first half to put ISU up 31-21. UNC held the Bengals scoreless the rest of the second quarter to enter halftime down seven points.
As Northern Colorado continued to hang around, keeping the gap between six and eight points, several of Idaho State’s most experienced players had chances to hit daggers that would’ve been hard for Northern Colorado. All-league senior Dora Goles, All-Big Sky sophomore Diaba Konate and junior Callie Bourne (the biggest all-league snub in the conference) all missed shots that could’ve broken the Bears.
With four minutes left, junior Montana Oltrogge stepped up and hit the big shot Idaho State needed. That extended the gap to 52-42. A turnaround jumper by Delaney Moore on the next possession pushed the lead to 12 points, ISU’s largest all night.
Northern Colorado would get no closer than eight points the rest of the game.
“We played consistently,” Sobolewski said after moving to 11-5 in neutral site tournaments. “We played like we’ve played all year long. We tried to play good defense, rebound the ball well, tried to share the ball. We played really hard and it worked out for us.”
BOX SCORE
Northern Colorado started this season 1-7. A 77-76 overtime win over Montana sparked a stretch that saw UNC win 12 of 16 games, including ending the regular-season on a six-game winning streak to earn the No. 4 seed in this week’s tournament.
“We battled today,” UNC head coach Jenny Huth said. “We had a few key possessions where we could’ve capitalized and pushed it to two-possession game but all the credit to them. They are a tough team, pretty veteran.”
Part of the surge came on the shoulders of Davis, a 6-foot-2 athletic specimen who has rapidly developed into one of the most impressive players in the league as only a sophomore. She averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds per contest on the way to earning league MVP honors.
In UNC’s 63-59 win over fifth-seeded Southern Utah on Tuesday, Davis was a menace, blocking four shots in the first quarter alone on the way to a monster stat line: 15 points, nine rebounds and eight blocked shots.
Wednesday, Davis again proved she’s a prodigious talent. She scored 19 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and knocked down 9-of-10 rebounds to pace the Bears.
Alecia Whyte, one of a quartet of outstanding sophomores on UNC’s roster, added 14 points thanks in part to 8-of-10 free throw shooting. UNC finishes its season 14-12.
“We played Kansas at the beginning of the year,” Huth said. “I don’t like to play cupcakes. I like us to compete. We battled in the second half of that Kansas game and I looked around and thought, ‘We might have the makings of a championship team.’
“You don’t know when it’s going to click with different players at different times. We are relatively young and we added different pieces at different times this year. But when it started to click, you could start to see confidence grow.”
Idaho State has used a balanced scoring attack, great ball movement and an unselfish dynamic to win 17 of its 19 games against Big Sky teams. On Wednesday, UNC held Goles, Bourne, Konate and Ores to 10-of-36 shooting as ISU shot 40 percent overall, including 5-of-15 from beyond the arc.
But the Bengals hit shots when necessary, finishing with 15 assists on 24 made field goals. And Idaho State won the battle of the boards 42-34 thanks to 10 rebounds from Bourne and seven more from Konate, who also dished out six assists compared to Bourne’s five dimes.
Bourne and Ellie Smith each scored 12 points to lead the Bengals. Oltrogge added 10 and Goles scored nine.
“That’s how we’ve been all year,” Sobolewski said. “We very rarely have someone have an amazing game. It’s always a bunch of people close to double figures so that’s what we are used to.”
The final game of Wednesday’s five-game showcase features two teams that have beaten Idaho State this season. The Bengals beat Idaho in Moscow before losing two nights later. ISU beat Montana State in Pocatello before losing in Bozeman two nights later.
Now Idaho State awaits the result of a semifinal game with a 9 p.m. tip.
“We just have to play like we normally play,” Oltrogge said. “That’s pretty much all we can do.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
