Nov. 17, 2008

Final Stats

Complete Alcorn State Box Score

Albuquerque, NM--Oana Iacovita's career-high 22 points aided the Bengals in a second half charge to defeat Alcorn State 67-50 at the Travelers Tip-Off Tournament hosted by New Mexico at The Pit Monday night. ISU improved to 1-2 for the season giving head coach Seton Sobolewski his first victory with Idaho State and his first victory as a head coach. Alcorn State fell to 0-3 for the season.

ISU struggled in the first half, having a difficult time establishing a rhythm and making several mistakes that Alcorn State capitalized on. Alcorn State posted 17 points from the Bengals 14 turnovers. Though ISU was better from the field scoring 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) to Alcorn State's 9-of-26 (34.6 percent), the turnovers and poor three-point shooting set ISU back as the Braves led 27-24 at the half. ISU's shooting behind the arc also affected the score as ISU was 1-for-6, just 16.7 percent with junior Devin Diehl posting the only one in the first period with just 20 seconds remaining. Diehl also had an impressive night on assists setting a career-high of seven.

"I think the problem with us tonight early on was we weren't playing," said head coach Sobolewski. "We were afraid to lose and I think we just needed to relax and that is one thing I tried to emphasize to the girls [during the half]."

Sobolewski's calm and relaxed demeanor rubbed off on the Bengals as they came out to a completely different showing in the second half. ISU knocked down 5-of-6 three-point shots to start the second period giving the Bengals a 39-33 lead. In the second half ISU nearly doubled their scoring as they posted 43 points and contained Alcorn State to 23 points, down four from the first half.

Forward Iacovita was a major asset to the Bengals as she recorded 22 points, 16 in the second half alone paired with 11 rebounds, eight of which were defensive. Iacovita was 7-for-11 from the field and even was comfortable shooting from the arc putting down 1-of-2 three-point shots. She was also a major contributor at the free throw line for the Bengals sinking 7-of-8. Her solid performance throughout the Travelers Tip-Off Tournament earned her All-Tournament Honors.

"Oana did a tremendous job down at the low post and she got some low boards and put them back," said Sobolewski. "I think she finally just relaxed along with everybody else and played. We tried to put her in positions that she would be effective."

Sophomore Chelsea Pickering also earned double-digits with ten points from two three-pointers, a jump shot and two free throws. Pickering scored her first three-pointer at the start of the second period to tie up the score 27-27. Pickering scored two of ISU's five three-pointers to start the second half as well as posting three rebounds throughout the game.

As the Bengals relaxed their free-throw shooting improved from 5-of-10 in the first to 13-of-19 in the second, but was still under-par when compared to their NCAA record setting percentage of last season at 83.2 percent. ISU was 62.1 percent from the line, just 18-of-29, but hit a positive note as they only let Alcorn State see the free throw line 12 times.

With the victory ISU captured third place in the Travelers Tip-Off Tournament and will continue on road as the Bengals head to Utah State on Saturday, November 22 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum at 7 p.m. Utah State will be ISU's fourth of seven road games to begin the season.

New Mexico took first place in the Travelers Tip-Off Tournament defeating DePaul 68-66 in the final 11.8 seconds of play with a layup by Amanda Beggin. DePaul thus captured second place while Alcorn State took fourth.