Mission accomplished.
Even if it was powered on half a can of chicken noodle soup and eight crackers.
But now the real work starts.
Off a week-long road trip that started in Ogden, swung by Sacramento and ended in Flagstaff, the Idaho State women are back in Pocatello.
And while a four-game Bengal winning streak has ISU back in the top half of the conference — and back in the hunt for the Big Sky’s No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament — the opportunity to truly announce itself as the league’s top team starts Thursday night versus the Montana Grizzlies.
About that soup, though.
Senior Kaela Oakes had an unfortunate run in with chicken-fried steak the night before Saturday’s game against Northern Arizona. Food poisoning sapped 5-foot-5 guard of her fluids and energy, and by gametime all she had forced down was the soup and crackers.
“I was trying to get water and Gatorade in me, but it was just so hard with my stomach all jumbled,” Oakes said. “I played as much as I could. It was definitely hard. I felt like I was going to pass out in the second half.”
Oakes isn’t ready to call it her signature flu game (a la Michael Jordan), instead, she’d rather forget the 1-for-9 shooting performance and focus on how the Bengals fought for a 52-48 victory over the Lumberjacks.
Down four at the break, ISU struggled to find buckets the final 20 minutes — shooting 26 percent in the second half — but NAU could only manage 15 points against the stingy orange and black defense.
“The NAU game was a little ugly,” Oakes said. “It was the end of the week and the end of the road trip, but we grinded through it and got the W. That brought us a little more confidence.”
About that work coming up. To survive Montana Thursday and Montana State Saturday, the Bengals will need all their confidence within easy reach.
Montana (12-5, 6-2) is the Big Sky’s No. 2 team, one game behind the Bobcats.
The Lady Griz are coming off a 78-point outburst at Southern Utah last Monday where UM rained in 12 3-pointers.
Senior guard Kenzie De Boer scored 27 points in a mere 25 minutes in the victory.
"De Boer couldn’t miss,” said ISU head coach Seton Sobolewski. “She just could not miss, whether it was a three, a layup, a pullup, a free throw, ... she was on fire. She was absolutely on fire.”
De Boer is Montana’s leading scorer, averaging 14.4 points a game. Right behind her is senior forward Katie Baker (13.1 points a night).
In conference action, the duo’s numbers jump to 16.5 points a game for Baker and 15.6 for De Boer. The two have contributed 47 percent of Montana’s points in the Big Sky.
But the Lady Griz’s depth extends beyond De Boer and Baker.
No starter averages more than 26 minutes and 10 players are on the court at least 13 minutes a night. It’s very much a typical Lady Griz team the Big Sky conference has come to know so well under head coach Robin Selvig — now in his 35th year in Missoula.
“They’re disciplined,” Sobolewski said. “They are simple and they execute, and they master all the little parts of the game, like rebounding, good help defense. All the little stuff they’ve mastered, and it adds up to being important stuff.”
Montana is outscoring its opponents by 8.9 points a contest (best in the conference) while averaging a league-low 12.3 turnovers a game.
And the Lady Griz are big with three starters 6 foot or taller and another three off the bench that stand at least 6 feet.
“We really, really need to box out,” Oakes said. “That’s going to be a big thing for us.”
Ultimately, the matchup seems destined for a defensive brawl. The Bengals give up 56 points a game and the Lady Griz allow 56.6, two of the Big Sky’s top three marks.
Until last year no one on the Bengal roster had beaten Montana. Sobolewski is 2-8 all time against Montana, with both victories coming a year ago.
"It’s still hard to have confidence like we had last year just because this conference is so easily spread this year,” Oakes said. “But I definitely think we’re getting ready to get back, ... and we want to kill them.”
When ISU won all three of its road games last week, it was mission accomplished. But now the next campaign in a season full of them begins.
Idaho State and Montana tipoff at 7 p.m.
NOTES: Kaela Oakes is 15 points away from reaching a 1,000 for her career at Idaho State. When she reaches the milestone, Oakes will be the 16th player in the program’s history, joining teammate Ashleigh Vella, who reached the 1,000 point mark Nov. 20 against Boise State. ... Junior Cydney Horton has 99 blocks in her career. She will be the sixth Bengal to reach the 100 block plateau. Currently, Horton is sixth in ISU history in career blocks.
No comments:
Post a Comment