Thoughts from ISU vs. Portland State

Six minutes into Idaho State’s first conference game of the season, the Portland State Vikings led 9-2.

The Bengals had four turnovers, a host of missed jumpers and no momentum.

Then Lindsey Reed entered the game, and ISU outscored the Vikings 61-41 to close out its first conference win of the season.

Reed had a large hand in that — she finished with 15 points, 11 of them in the first half — but it took a solid team effort for Idaho State to pull away from a good Portland State squad.

Here are three quick observations from the Portland State game.

(And if you’re one who only likes to look forward then scroll to the bottom of this post for a quick preview of ISU’s game Saturday versus Eastern Washington that tips off at Noon.)

     1. Big Sky action is another level of intensity

For me, there’s not another team that plays harder than the Idaho State women. But add in a few hundred crazed Bengal fans clad in bright ISU orange, a band, cheerleaders, a dance team and a conference game in Reed Gym just feels different than the nonconference matchups.

Every missed shot, turnover, deep 3-pointer and foul call has an added weight to its importance.

In other words, it’s awesome.

    2. The Bengals were outrebounded 41-26 but it didn’t matter — as long as it doesn't turn into a trend

Angela Misa, Portland State’s 6-foot-1 junior transfer from Oregon State, is big and powerful underneath the basket. Her size and girth dwarfed Ashleigh Vella, Cydney Horton and Jessa Jeppesen.

Misa finished with 11 rebounds and the Vikings had 19 offensive rebounds for the game. Part of that comes from the fact that PSU was 20-of-58 from the floor (more misses = more opportunities for offensive rebounds) but, still, ISU is traditionally very strong on the boards so it has to concern Bengals head coach Seton Sobolewski.

“On the flip side, we didn’t do a very good job with offensive rebounds,” Sobolewski said. “We only got three. We’re usually one of the top two or three teams in rebounding. We didn’t look like that tonight. That’s an area we have to fix.”

But Sobolewski also pointed out that of the Vikings' 19 offensive boards, nine resulted from ISU players knocking the ball out of bounds.

“That tells me we’ve got to do a better job reeling in the ball and getting two hands on it and bringing it in,” Sobolewski said, who’s team is now 59-9 when leading at the half.   

    3. Portland State is a replica of ISU in many ways

PSU defenders are aggressive on defense. They crouch low in their defensive stances and get right up into the ball-handlers' chest.

Portland State head coach Sherri Murrell — a career Big Sky record of 53-28 after the loss Thursday night — preaches a physical style of play, and she places an emphasis on maximizing her team’s possessions. Meaning that while the Vikings will look to get out in the open court and score quickly, their guards will also pull up and run the offense to find the best shot possible. Sound familiar?

Those are all traits Sobolewski preaches and it resulted in a bruising basketball game. The Bengals and Vikings beat each other up. Will that affect Saturday's game for ISU?

Alright, let’s take a quick look at Big Sky game number two against the Eastern Washington Eagles. And let’s do it in bullet/fact style!    

• The Eagles lost nearly 50 percent of its scoring from a year ago after Big Sky MVP Brianne Ryan and second-team all-Big Sky point Chene Cooper graduated.

• Lexie Nelson, a transfer from Montana, is EWU’s leading scorer. She’s averaging 15.2 points a game. Aubrey Ashenfelter and Carrie Ojeda — both starters last year — are chipping in about 10 a game. Sobolewski seemed particularly impressed with Nelson saying “She was only a freshman at Montana and she was going to be a great player, She transferred and sitting out a year is always a great thing. As a player it kind of sucks to sit out a year but you mature, you practice, your body develops a little bit more and you adjust to the level of play better after sitting out a year.” Sobolewski said Nelson is playing with extreme confidence, but he’s been impressed with their bigs, too.

• Eastern is 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the Big Sky after defeating Weber State in Ogden 88-60 Dec. 20.

• EWU and ISU have two similar opponents this season. The Eagles played Carroll College in an exhibition game back in early November and beat the Fighting Saints 65-38, and on Dec. 7, Eastern traveled to Boise and beat the Broncos 74-63.