Box Score
RENO, Nev. (March 10, 2017) – Something about the Reno Events Center agrees with the Idaho State women’s basketball team.
The Bengals held off Portland State 54-50 in Friday’s semifinals to advance to the championship game of the Big Sky Conference tournament for the second straight season.
The sixth-seeded Bengals (19-13) will face top-seed Montana State in Saturday’s title game at 12:05 p.m. PST. The winner will receive the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Seventh-seeded Portland State ended the season at 16-17.
Idaho State advanced to the title game last season as the ninth seed, only to fall to upstate rival Idaho.
Idaho State and Montana State split their season series, with the Bengals winning 67-59 in Pocatello and the Bobcats taking a 73-67 victory in Bozeman.
Freshman guard Bianca Thacker led the Bengals with 18 points, making four 3-pointers over the top of Portland State’s zone defense. Estefania Ors also knocked down all four of her attempts from beyond the arc and finished with 15 points.
Portland State, which started five sophomores, was led by Courtney West’s 16 points. Ashley Bolston added 14 and Sidney Rielly chipped in 10.
The Bengals had a tough time finding holes in Portland State’s zone early on, trailing 15-11 after the first quarter.
Thacker knocked down back-to-back treys early in the second quarter to give Idaho State a 19-17 lead. The Bengals never trailed again, although they were unable to shake the Vikings.
Idaho State was able to forge a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter. Ors had a lot to do with that, knocking down three treys in the stanza. Thacker scored in the lane to give ISU a 47-38 lead with 7:47 to play.
Portland State pulled within three on three occasions, the last time at 53-50 on a Bolston layup with 8.8 seconds remaining.
Ors made 1 of 2 free throws with 7.5 ticks left to seal the deal and send the Bengals to the title game.