ISU vs. Northern Colorado postgame thoughts

I dropped a pass once that would have won a game.

On the sideline, I cried.

Believe me, the last thing I wanted was to break down while sitting on the bench in shoulder pads after it was over. But the tears came because I knew that if I hadn’t dropped what was an absolute dime from my quarterback, we would have won.

The correlation between my drop and the loss was a perfectly clear, a direct line. I let my teammates down and it broke my heart.

Did I mention this was a junior varsity game with absolutely no bearing on, well, anything? ...

It’s an experience that still brings strong emotions even though I can look back now and realize that we lost the game for so many other reasons — a missed tackle here, screwed up blocking assignment there.

The logic is still only somewhat comforting, though, and it happened a decade ago.

That memory comes to mind tonight after Kaela Oakes’ missed free throws in a 50-49 loss to Northern Colorado (for the game recap, click here).

Those free throws — no matter how Idaho State finishes its season — will live with her for years and years.

After the game, Northern Colorado head coach Jaime White said, “It’s unfortunate it has to come down to a win like that, but basketball is basketball and she’ll bounce back.”

White, of course, is right. Oakes is an absolutely ferocious competitor and a gamer. She’ll get right and come back strong against North Dakota Saturday, I would expect.

Before moving on to the UND game, however, let’s go over a few observations from the game.

1. Northern Colorado’s depth was impressive (or a killer for Bengal fans)
Both Hannah Thornton  (6-foot-1 senior post) and Stephanie Lee (6-foot-1 sophomore post) came off the bench for the Bears and scored 11 and 13 points, respectively. And the duo combined for 13 rebounds.

For the night, Northern Colorado outscored ISU’s bench 24-5. Not necessarily a big deal (it’s a worthless stat if ISU’s starters go off for 60), but it was huge for the Bears to have that bench production. UNC’s leading scorer, Lauren Oosdyke, was 3-for-8 from the field for eight points and D’Shara Strange scored six of her 14 in the last two minutes.

If Thornton and Lee hadn’t hit shots then Idaho State might have pulled away.
   
2. This was a chippy game
Players from both sides seemed agitated with their opponent. Oosdyke and Lindsay Mallon from Northern Colorado seemed particularly angry at times.

Oakes and Ashleigh Vella got into it a little bit at different points with the Bears.

And it’s awesome. One thing is clear between Northern Colorado and Idaho State — they’re not friends. Neither likes each other and who wouldn’t like to see them tussle one more time — say in the Big Sky Tournament in about a month?

3. Can Idaho State bounce back?
For me, a big theme of last Saturday’s game versus Montana State surrounded the idea that ISU’s loss to Montana was tough to swallow.

But Montana sort of squeezed the life out of Idaho State over 40 minutes, Northern Colorado snatched it away in dramatic fashion.

Coming back from a last-second loss like tonight’s is a true test of the Bengals’ character.

And let’s be honest. Now that ISU is 6-5 in the Big Sky and a full three games behind Montana with nine left to play (and Idaho State still has to play Montana in Missoula, Feb. 16), the ultimate carrot of winning a Big Sky regular season championship is grim — like it’s in the coffin and being lowered into the gravesite kind of dim.

It’s not to say Idaho State doesn’t have nearly all of its goal still in reach (because it does), but combine a heartbreaking loss with a steep drop in the conference standings and it’s ... well, it’s ... tough.