Bobcat Women Drop Home League Opener

Thursday, January 5

Bozeman, MT

7:05 p.m.

Montana State University

IDAHO STATE

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

1/5/2012 10:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Montana State sophomore Chelsea Banis’ jumper in the lane with four-seconds remaining bounced off and an attempt to get an offensive put-back fell short as Idaho State rallied to record a 59-58 win over MSU, Thursday night in Worthington Arena.

By: Tom Schulz

Montana State sophomore Chelsea Banis' jumper in the lane with four-seconds remaining bounced off and an attempt to get an offensive put-back fell short as Idaho State rallied to record a 59-58 win over MSU, Thursday night in Worthington Arena.

Montana State (9-6, 1-2) scored the first basket of the game and held the lead until Chelsea Pickering's basket with 2:24 remaining gave Idaho State (10-5, 2-0) all it needed to escape with the win.

It was all Bobcats in the opening stanza as MSU built a 16-point cushion following an Ausha Cole trey at the 2:46 mark. ISU closed the gap to 33-26 at intermission.

In the second stanza, MSU held a 14-point advantage with 8:24 remaining following a Banis layup.

From that point, Idaho State took over the game going on a 20-6 run to even the score at 55-all with 2:56 left following a Lindsey Reed three-pointer. ISU then took its largest lead of the game at 59-55 on two Kaela Oakes free throws with 25-seconds remaining.

Ashley Albert converted a long distance triple with 12-seconds left to pull the Bobcats to within one.

MSU fouled Pickering on the in-bounds, but the senior missed the front end of the one-and-one to setup the Bobcats' final attempt.

“Our communication on defense really hurt us in the second half,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “We're disappointed with our lack of focus and effort. We also lost our offensive composure down the stretch and the combination of those two things was the difference.”

MSU was led by senior Katie Bussey with 14 points, while Albert and Rachel Semansky added ten each. Albert notched a double-double pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.

For the game, the Bobcats shot 31 percent, including a paltry 28 percent in the second half. Idaho State finished shooting 33 percent from the field.

The Bengals were paced by Oakes with a game-high 18 points, including four 3-pointers.

MSU will host Weber State, Thursday, Jan. 12 at 7:05 p.m., in Worthington Arena.