One last shot — Vella, Oakes and crew face BYU in the Women’s NIT

The Idaho State women aren’t done yet.

Despite a disappointing 73-60 loss in the opening round of the Big Sky Tournament to Sacramento State a week ago, the Women’s National Invitation Tournament tabbed the Bengals for one of the 35 at-large bids.

ISU will play the Brigham Young in Provo tonight at 7 p.m.

This is ISU’s fourth appearance in the WNIT and BYU’s sixth.

Three teams from the Big Sky are in this year’s WNIT. Northern Colorado was an automatic qualifier after finishing second in the postseason tournament to Montana, and Eastern Washington received an at-large bid like Idaho State.

The Cougars hopes for a spot in the NCAA tournament fell short in the West Coast Conference semifinals when they lost to eventual champion Gonzaga 62-43.

BYU (21-10, 11-5 WCC) averages 63.9 points per game while allowing just under 57 (the second-best mark in their conference).

But what stands out immediately for the Cougars is their 6-foot-7 center, Jennifer Hamson, who also plays volleyball. Hamson missed some time to begin the year, but the Lindon, Utah, native played in BYU’s last 17 contests.

Hamson is the Cougars’ leading scorer, averaging 10.6 points and 8.2 rebounds in less than 25 minutes a night.

BYU did lose star scorer Lexi Eaton early in the season to a knee injury when she was averaging over 17 points a game, but, still, the Cougars’ rotation includes about eight players and a frontcourt that dwarfs Idaho State.

Along with Hamson, senior Keilana Unga is 6-foot-2 and Stephanie Vermunt Seaborn is 6-foot. That doesn’t even mention the 6-foot-2 sophomore forward (Morgan Bailey) coming off the bench.

But the engine that makes the Cougars go is senior point guard Haley Steed. Steed averages 7.4 assists per game (second in the nation) and 2.06 steals.

She’s an offensive threat too, hitting just over two 3-pointers a game while shooting 37.1 percent from the perimeter. And even as the main cog controlling BYU’s offense, Steed keeps BYU’s turnovers at a minimum. She has the nation’s fourth-best assist-to-turnover-ratio (2.64).

The Cougars will provide a stern test with a balanced attack, size in the interior and a quick, versatile guard on the perimeter. And ISU is hitting the pavement for the fourth-straight game in the last two weeks.

After traveling to the Pacific Northwest to finish the Big Sky regular season at Eastern Washington and Portland State, the Bengals returned to Pocatello only to turn right around and head north to Missoula, Mont., for the postseason tournament.

There the Hornets avenged two early-season losses to Idaho State and pulled off the first-round upset, shooting 50 percent from the 3-point line and outscoring ISU by 14 points in the second half.

To make matters worse, and to shorten an already short bench, senior wing Abyee Maracigan may have injured her knee at the end of the game.
But for Idaho State and head coach Seton Sobolewski, the WNIT is the opportunity to compete in a national tournament.

The Bengals and Cougars have played 14 times before, and BYU leads the series 11-3.

The ISU-BYU winner will advance to play the San Diego State-UC Santa Barbara survivor.