RENO, Nevada — In any previous season, Idaho State would have been watching from home. After a third straight physically dominating performance, the Bengals have a chance to stamp their spot as Cinderella and go dancing.
The ISU women lost six games by three points or less during the regular season to finish with an 8-10 record, good enough for the ninth seed in the Big Sky Conference women’s tournament. Because of the new neutral site format — the league relocated to the Biggest Little City in the World and awarded all 12 teams on the men’s and women’s sides bids — ISU qualified for the postseason despite the struggles.
[restrict paid=”true”]The Bengals smothered Northern Colorado to emerge from the first round but had the unenviable task of taking on top-seeded Montana State in the quarterfinals. Juliet Jones hit a 27-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Bengals into the semifinals.
On Friday, ISU faced a surging North Dakota squad with 14 wins in its last 16 games, including a victory over the reigning Big Sky Tournament champion Montana Lady Griz.
With a win over the favorites already under their belts, the Bengals played with confidence from the start. Idaho State dominated the paint and the glass, enforcing its will from the outset in a 69-54 victory over UND to begin Friday’s four-game semifinal session.
“You love (the new format) if you’re not the No. 1 seed,” said Idaho State head coach Seton Sobolewski with a chuckle. “If you are the No. 1 seed and you get to host, it’s pretty cool. But a neutral site, it levels the playing field when it comes to conference tournaments.
“To me, it’s a shame this was the semifinal game because you can say we are one of the hotter teams right now but so is North Dakota. It almost felt like that would be a really good matchup for a championship. We played hard, we did what we had to do to win and we are moving on.”
Idaho State jumped out to a 21-11 first quarter lead, then used its trademark physical defense and a stellar effort on the glass against the Big Sky’s best rebounding team to lead for the final 38 minutes of the action.
“They are the best rebounding team in the conference,” Sobolewski said. “They have been one of the best rebounding teams since (head coach) Travis (Brewster) has been around. They have size. They are really big. They have tall guards. And one of their smallest forwards is their best rebounder in Mia Loyd. She’s incredibly athletic and aggressive. That was a strong point of emphasis of ours.”
The Bengals built a 48-38 advantage on the glass with a relentless effort and the surprising emergence of Tressa Lyman. The 6-foot-1 senior, who was the league’s MVP in volleyball as a junior, came off the bench to snare a game-high 15 rebounds in 24 minutes as ISU beat the best rebounding team in the league at its own game.
“It’s been so fun and really, I owe it to the girls and the coaches because they are the ones who are always helping me and reminding me what I am supposed to do and encouraging me,” Lyman said. “I feel like it could be so frustrating to come in and not really know what I’m doing but they are so encouraging, if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t really be able to do anything.”
Megan Hochstein, the Big Sky co-Top Reserve last season, suffered a season ending injury one game into her sophomore season. ISU sophomore Grace Kenyon, the Bengals’ leading rebounder last season, suffered a season-ending injury before the season. Idaho State assistant Michael Trujillio went to Sobolewski and suggested adding Lyman to the roster. The long, athletic forward has battled with foul trouble since, but her addition to the roster has been a buoy to the Bengals, especially on Friday against the bigger, stronger Fighting Hawks.
“We had some early season injuries, losing two starters,” Sobolewski said. “Grace might’ve been one of the best freshmen in the conference last season and our leading rebounder. Coach Trujillio had the bright idea of asking Tressa to come play. We know she has a basketball background and she’s had a huge impact. Had she played a little longer this year, I wouldn’t have had a problem nominating her for Newcomer of the Year.’
Junior guard Leah Szabla led UND with 18 points, all after halftime. Junior Samantha Roscoe added 14 points and Loyd, a first-team All-Big Sky selection, scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for UND. The Hawks finished 18-12.
“They did a good job of sending their guards in,” Loyd said. “Their posts are great rebounders but all five of them, when they crash hard, it’s hard to keep them off. That’s usually what we do. That was a good battle. In the end they beat us.”
ISU set the tone early, reeling off a 21-7 run to end the first quarter and never trailing again. Idaho State put three players in double figures, including senior guard Apiphany Woods, who led the team with 15 points. Junior Frey Newton hit all four of her shots, including three 3-pointers, to finish with 14 points and junior point guard Brooke Blair shook off a 4-of-15 shooting night to finish with 10 points and five assists.
From the outset, Idaho State played like the favorite, despite the seed, The Bengals carried confidence from their thrilling win over the regular-season champions from Montana State.
“That win gave us a lot of confidence but we are going to remain humble because we still have one more game,” said Woods, last season’s BSC Newcomer of the Year. “We knew it would be tough but we defended and rebounded like we always do. We love each other. We go out and work hard for each other and play for each other.”
[/restrict]
