Dec. 17, 2008
Complete Women's Basketball Game Notes: Saint Mary's 
Quickly
Idaho State continues to make comebacks in the second half either taking a small lead or tying the score, but cannot hold on to the end against tough opponents. The Bengals have consistently shot above .350 in field goals in their last six contests and have outscored their last five opponents hitting above .300 beyond the arc. Idaho State will return home to face off against Saint Mary's at Reed Gym Saturday, December 20 at 2:05 p.m. The Bengals post a 1-1 home record even though ISU has finished over a third of its season (37.9 percent).
About Idaho State
ISU still leads the Big Sky conference in three-point field goal percentage defense allowing only 26.2 percent from the arc. The Bengals also are second in scoring defense overall allowing their opponents to average 65.6 points per game, under Montana's 54.3 points average. The Bengals are ranked 278 in the nation, sixth best in the Big Sky conference ahead of Northern Colorado, Sacramento State and Northern Arizona.
As a team the Bengals post the second most in blocked shots per game with 3.27, behind Montana of 3.78 and are second in defensive rebounds per game with 25.09 with Montana leading at 26.22. ISU is also second most in three-point field goals made per game with 7.00 behind Northern Colorado at 7.71 per game. Senior Michelle Grohs leads the conference in blocked shots per game as she averages 1.36 and is the only Big Sky player to post double-digits in blocks with 15 over 11 games. Junior Oana Iacovita posts the second most rebound per game in the conference with 9.0, behind Erika Edwards of Sacramento State.
The Bengals shoot with 36.7 percent accuracy from the field going 231-of-629 and are 77-of-226 for 34.1 percent accuracy from the arc. Idaho State averages 36.8 rebounds a game and 7.8 steals. Unfortunately, ISU averages 17.5 turnovers which often occurs in the beginning of competitions and late in the second half costing ISU a solid start and finish. Two Bengals average double digits in scoring with senior Grohs at 12.2 and junior Iacovita at 11.8 points per game. Grohs averages 7.3 rebounds while Iacovita averages nine to lead the Bengals.
"Fill the Foodbank" - Buy One Get One Free
Idaho State is trying to "Fill the Foodbank" and fans can help. Fans that wish to attend the St. Mary's home game can bring a canned food item to the Holt Arena Ticket Office, KZBQ 93.7 FM or KZBQ's Sponsors and receive a buy-one-get-one-free ticket offer. The canned goods will go to the Southeast Idaho Food Bank.
Senior Grohs is Good For Three
Senior Michelle Grohs posts the 12th highest three-point field goal percentage in the nation. She leads the Big Sky Conference in three-point percentage among seniors in the Conference with a .491 percentage. Also, when compared to the top junior of the conference, Erika Edwards of Sacramento State, she beats Edwards who posts a .435 percentage. After the match up against Utah Valley Grohs improved her accuracy to a .491 percentage as she is now 26-of-53 from behind the arc. At Orem Grohs was 4-for-7.
Iacovita Doubles Up
Junior Oana Iacovita leads the Big Sky Conference in double-doubles as she has recorded four alone with Nicole Scott of Eastern Washington. Scott and Iacovita have both posted double-doubles against solid teams. When you combine the point totals and rebound totals for the players, Iacovita edges out Scott with 17 more points and six more rebounds. Altogether Iacovita posted 69 points and 48 rebounds in double-double figures while Scott posts 52 points and 42 rebounds.
Lambert Makes First Start
Sophomore forward Cara Lambert had her first career start on Saturday, December 13 against Utah Valley. Lambert had a solid weekend going 5-of-10 (50 percent). She was also .500 from the line. Lambert recorded three steals and averaged 5.5 points over the weekend. During her start at Utah Valley she tied her career-high seven points that she scored in her first competition of the year against DePaul. She posted seven points, going 3-of-8 from the field and 1-of-2 at the line. Lambert posted five rebounds and a steal. She helped keep two-time All American Robyn Fairbanks of Utah Valley to just 10 points in the first half and nine points in the second, a player that averaged 23.6 points per game at the time.
Pickering Out Against Boise State & Utah Valley
Sophomore Chelsea Pickering who had back-to-back career setting games against Montana Western and Wyoming rolled her ankle in practice the day before the team traveled to play Boise State, to aid in her recovery she did not compete in the Boise State or Utah Valley games. Pickering is expected to recover for Saint Mary's, but play will still be a game time decision.
About Saint Mary's
Saint Mary's College posts a record of 1-9 and are 0-7 on the road. SMC was 15-17 last season going 6-8 in the West Coast Conference. The Gaels did not fare well on the road last year as they were 3-12 and 3-1 on neutral ground. All three of SMC's top scorers return for the Gaels.
Jontelle Smith was the leading scorer for Saint Mary's last season averaging 16.8 points. Louella Tomlinson returns as well, she averaged 13 points per game while Maija Lahde averaged 11.3 last season. Saint Mary's returns nine lettermen and three starters. Idaho State is 6-18 against opponents in the West Coast Conference.
Saint Mary's is 265-of-651, 40.7 percent from the field and 42-of-99, 42.4 percent from the arc. SMC struggles at the charity line hitting only 132-of-227 for 58.1 percent while its opponents see the line frequently and benefit hitting 186-of-252 and are 73.8 percent at the line. SMC is also out rebounded by its opponents as SMC averages 43.2 rebounds and its opponents 45.6 rebounds. The Gaels also struggle on turnovers posting 233 this season (ISU also has difficulty with turnovers but have posted 193 so far this season.) However, SMC averages 70.4 points per game while ISU averages 59.9 points.
Gael Standouts
This season Jonetelle Smith has only competed and started in one game and played just two minutes, after she injured her knee in game play. She has been out the rest of the season, but SMC states the status for her play is still yet to be determined. The Gaels still have Louella Tomlinson and Maija Lahde are back averaging 13.2 and 11.6 points per game respectively. Louella Tomlinson averages 8.2 rebounds per game.
Tomlinson has scored the team game-high three times with 17 points being her highest, but has posted the team game-high seven rebounds with tying for 12 as her high. Lahde posted the team-high for points and rebounds against UC Davis with 19 points and 11 rebounds, her first double-double of the season.
She'll Block You: Tomlinson
Louella Tomlinson, a sophomore from Melbourne, Australia has recorded 51 blocked shots so far this season to lead her team, accumulating 75 percent of the teams blocked shots. She averages an incredible 5.7 blocked shots per game to post the second most in the nation under Brittany Pittman of Morehead, a 6-3 center, who records six blocked shots on average (54 blocks in nine games).
Tomlinson's height no doubt helps as she stands at 6-4. She broke the NCAA Division I record for blocks in a season as a Freshman with a 156, topping Amie Williams' 2003 record of 152. Tomlinson broke every Saint Mary's block record, including blocks in a career (156), block in a season (156), and blocks in a game (11). As a freshman Tomlinson also broke two WCC block records, shattering the single season record of 137, with 156, and the single season record for WCC games only, 58, with 68. She topped the NCAA record for blocks by freshman, surpassing the previous mark of 145. Tomlinson's freshman campaign of 156 blocks nearly overtook Idaho State's all-time career blocks record of 180 set by Mandi Carver from 1998-02.
Three Point Match-Up
Idaho State may have finally found their match at the arc as Saint Mary's is third in the nation for best three-point field goal percentage at 44.7 (Canisius leads with 47.1 percent). Idaho State has out hit their opponents from the arc for its last five games. Idaho States is ranked 94th in the nation for field goal percentage. However, ISU is 26th in the nation for three-point field goals per game while SMC is ranked 228. Even though Saint Mary's is more accurate they are 42-of-99 while ISU has more opportunities hitting 77-of-226.
How Tall? 99 Gummy Bears Tall
Saint Mary's posts seven players at six feet or higher with their tallest player at 6-6 in Lindsay Ellis. Ellis has played in all nine games and posts a .429 field goal percentage. She averages 2.4 points per game in her near 11 minutes of play each game and 2.4 rebounds. The second tallest player on the team is standout Louella Tomlinson at 6-4. Six feet and six inches tall is equivalent to standing 99 and a half gummy bears from end-to-end as each gummy bear is 2 centimeters tall. The shortest players for SMC is 5-5 Erika Ruiz and Jontelle Smith.
Busy Week for Gael's
Saint Mary's nearly has a tournament schedule this week as they play four road games with only a day in between each. The Gaels will travel to CS Bakersfield on Tuesday, December 16, then head back home to play Seattle in Moraga, California on Thursday, December 18th. The trip continues as SMC will hit up Idaho State on Saturday, December 20 in Pocatello, then double back a bit to continue on and play Boise State in the Taco Bell Arena on Monday, December 22. The Gaels will cover 1,557.91 miles and their travel time will consist of 23 hours and 46 minutes. If you include the round trip back home SMC will be on the road for a total of 33 hours and 59 minutes and will cover 2,190.57 miles.
Series Info and Last Meeting with Gael's
Saint Mary's leads Idaho State in the series 4-1 with SMC capturing a 22-point victory over the Bengals in the last meeting in Kona, Hawai'i at the Kona Tournament on December 10, 1994 where ISU fell 101-79.
The Bengals defeated Saint Mary's in their first match up 79-39 during the 1981-82 season. Idaho State has dropped the last four games against Saint Mary's, twice in the 1994-95 season, once in the 1991-92 season, and once in the 1987-88 season.
Plug a Leak, Another Erupts
Cal State Bakersfield shut down Louella Tomlinson and Maija Lahde, Saint Mary's leading scorers, but as they plugged up that threat, they allowed three SMC players to take the forefront. When given the opportunity, Saint Mary's can have high scorers in any one of it's players. The leading scorer against Cal State Bakersfield came off the Bench but played the most time for SMC at 28 minutes with Ashlee Smith who recorded 1 points and three rebounds. The Gaels also found starter Alex Carbonel a scorer as she posted 15 points, while Amber Coatney finished off the double-figure scoring for SMC with 13 points.
Even with three SMC players scoring in double-digits it was not enough to overcome CSUB as the roadrunners had four players scoring in double digits with Christin Kepenekian posting 26 points going 10-of-19 from the field and 6-of-8 from the line.
