Nov. 19, 2006

Box Score

Reno, NV--Andrea Lightfoot scored a team-high 17 points and Natalie Doma added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as Nevada used a tenacious defense to defeat Idaho State 75-58 Sunday afternoon at the Lawlor Events Center.

The Bengals drop to 0-3 on the season, while Nevada improves to 3-0. The 3-0 start for Nevada marks the best start to a season in 25 years for the Wolf Pack. Idaho State also opened its 2005-06 season with three straight losses, but then rebounded to win three straight.

"Nevada is a good team," said ISU head coach Jon Newlee. "They are quick and real athletic. They pressured us the entire game and we didn't handle it well. We expected this from Nevada and we didn't respond."

Lightfoot connected on 4-of-11 shots from the field, including a 1-of-2 mark from long range for her 17 points. She was also a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. The junior guard also collected three rebounds, two assists, and two steals in 39 minutes of play.

Doma played every second of the game, hitting on 7-of-12 shots for her 14 points. The 14 points, 10 rebound effort is Doma's second double-double through just three games this season. Jeni Boesel also got into double figures with 10 points.

The Bengals had trouble handling Nevada's tenacious defense. The Wolf Pack put on a full court press through the majority of the game, and it resulted in 26 Bengal turnovers. Nevada also won the battle of the boards, collecting 46 to ISU's 30.

"We had two keys coming into this game and we didn't achieve either one of them," said ISU head coach Jon Newlee. "We wanted to limit our turnovers and win the rebound battle. We need to take care of the ball."

Idaho State continues to shoot the ball well from the floor as the team connected on a 46.7 clip from the field. The Wolf Pack shot 39.2 percent from the floor, but had 34 more field goal attempts than the Bengals.

Idaho State will continue road play at UALR on Nov. 24. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. The Bengals open their home slate on Nov. 28 against Wyoming at 7:05 p.m.

"This is a tough schedule," Newlee said. "We play our first four games on the road and that's a tough thing to do. We are playing very talented teams and I think in the long run its going to pay off for us. We could play teams that we know we could beat but that wouldn't do us a lot of good. It's a tough schedule and I expect it to help us come conference season. Our goal is to win a Big Sky title and that's what we are preparing to do."