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This Day in ISU Women's Basketball...

February 16, 2006 – Just another day at the office for Natalie Doma. The “Michael Jordan” of ISU women’s basketball pulled down 21 rebounds in 26 minutes of play in an 80-68 win at Portland State. She also had 16 points. Joanna Hixon led ISU in scoring with 20.

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February 18, 1995 - The Bengals didn’t have a lot of success in the 94-95 season but that didn’t mean they didn’t have some good players. Meg Salness was one of the best and despite not having top talent around her ready to win, still shone brightly. On this night, with No. Arizona in town Salness poured in 26 points as the team beat the Lumberjacks 69-61. Salness went 11 of 19 from the field, four of six from the line, added four rebounds, an assist and six steals. It was one of her finest performances. The game took place at Holt Arena. Meg is now a teacher at Century high school in Pocatello.

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February 19, 2005Molly Hays would set the school record for the most free throws attempted by a player in a game and the most free throws made by a player in a game during the Bengals 80-69 win over Eastern Washington at Reed Gym. Hays would go 18 for 20 at the line and finish the game with 27 points. On February 20, 2014 Lindsey Reed would come close to tying Hays record as she went 17 of 18 from the line in a win over Montana State. Hays, by the way, was twice named an all-Big Sky Conference first team selection, once as a unanimous choice. The second time she was honored as a first team selection she averaged almost 15 points and eight rebounds a game which led the Big Sky. She also was named Big Sky Player of the Week twice in her career.

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February 20, 1999 – A 59-43 win at home over Sacramento State marked the end of the line for ISU’s Theresa Mallak. Mallack was a bright spot during the dark days of the mid 90’s and helped the Bengals to a pair of seasons where they won more than they lost. As a reward for her outstanding play the Big Sky Conference named her to the first team for her senior season and she won Big Sky Player of the Week that same year.

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February 21, 2008 – In Bozeman, Idaho State beat Montana State 85-71. It was the program’s 400th win. Jon Newlee was the head coach for this one. In the game itself Natalie Doma poured in 32 points with 11 rebounds and Andrea Lightfoot added 22.

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February 23, 1980 – The Bengals blew out No. Arizona 97-72 in Pocatello. It would turn out to be the last win for head coach Nancy Shay. Shay coached the Bengals for five seasons and would leave with a record of 65-46. According to the Spokane, Washington newspaper she did not give a reason why she resigned at the time.

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February 26, 1998 Shannon Copple of the Bengals tied her own school record with 15 three point attempts in the game against Eastern Washington. The Bengals won it 67-49 in Cheney. Copple first set the record in December 1997 two months earlier.

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February 27, 1982 – ISU wrapped up their season with a loss at Boise State and it was also the last game Gayle Bragg ever played for the Bengals. She only played two seasons but left with the school record for rebounds per game, 11.2. She’s the only Bengal player to ever average in double figure rebounds for a career.

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March 1, 1986 – She had the unfortunate luck to never have played on a team that had a winning season at ISU in her four years, but that didn’t mean Lynn Henderson wasn’t a very good player. Henderson shot almost 52 per cent from the floor one season and finished at ISU by scoring 1,052 points to go along with 634 rebounds. Her last game was a three point loss 88-85 to Weber State in Pocatello.

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March 4, 1989 – She came from a basketball family and made sure she’d uphold their standards. Nancy Imhoff was the daughter of long time NBA player Darrell Imhoff and she made her mark at Idaho State. In her four years Imhoff scored 1,144 points and grabbed 532 rebounds. Although in her four years she never had a winning season that never stopped or slowed down the effort she played basketball with. She ended her career in a loss to Montana in Pocatello. Imhoff was also a Big Sky Conference scholar-athlete award winner.

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March 6, 2010 – On Senior Day the Bengals once again showed their toughness coming from behind late in regulation and in overtime to beat Sacramento State 69-67. Morgan Wohltman, who barely played because of an illness, hit a deep three from the top of the key with :16 seconds left to tie the game at 58. Then in overtime Andrea Videbeck made a layup with :14 seconds to go to give ISU a one point lead. The lead was two points when Videbeck then stole the inbounds pass from Ashley Garcia to finish off the Hornets.

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March 7, 2006 – Defense wins championships. Anytime you have players willing to dig in and do the little things needed to win games is a blessing. ISU was blessed for the season by having Joanna Hixon on their team. Hixon was named the co-Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year in a vote by the coaches along with Eastern Washington’s Joanna Chadd. Hixon was one of the Big Sky's top rebounders, ranking third at 8.2 a game. She also ranked second in the league in defensive rebounds with 4.7 a game, and had posted eight games of 10 or more boards.

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March 8, 1979 – Against So. Colorado College, ISU’s Karen Tharp set the school record with 17 assists in the game. The Bengals won it 75-59. That year Tharpe would set the school records for most assists in a season, 171 and assists per game, 6.58. Those records still stand over 35 years later!

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March 10, 2012 – Before over two thousand fans jammed into Reed Gym and a regional TV audience, ISU outlasted No. Colorado 49-46 to win the Big Sky Conference postseason tournament and make the NCAA’s for the third time. ISU would go 16-2 against conference foes that year including two wins in that tournament. They beat Sacramento State to get to the title game. Chelsea Pickering and Ash Vella had 12 points. Lindsey Reed added 10. Those three were all named to the postseason all-tournament team with Pickering being named the M.V.P.

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March 11, 2010 – A first round loss in the Big Sky Conference postseason tournament to Portland State ended the career for Bengal Oana Iacovita. But what a career it was. The Romanian scored 1,008 points at ISU to go along with 530 rebounds and was a unanimous first team all-Big Sky selection. She scored 22 points in the tournament loss and that was how she crossed the 1,000 point mark. Iacovita also was named to the postseason all-Big Sky tournament team twice and three times during the season she was named the Big Sky Player of the Week. She was also one of the most intelligent players in school history. She spoke six languages and was named the Big Sky Conference honoree for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. She was also named the Most Outstanding Senior in the College of Business at ISU.

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March 12, 1977 – It was the first ever postseason win for ISU women’s basketball. Playing in the Intermountain Conference Playoffs in Colorado Springs the Bengals knocked off Denver 80-54. That season Idaho State went 15-4 on the year with a 10 game winning streak.

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March 13, 2009 – It was perhaps a game that should have been won. In the semi-finals of the Big Sky Conference post season tournament in Missoula a Bengal team that only had eight players put a serious scare into the host team, only down four points with four minutes to go. They’d wind up losing it 70-56 but it was a lot closer than the final score. The game marked the end for Michelle Grohs as an ISU player. She finished her time with 1,005 points and 669 rebounds and crossed the 1,000 point mark in the second half of the game. She was also a first team all-Big Sky Conference selection, twice was named the Big Sky Player of the Week that year, had 11 double-doubles in her career and was a Big Sky Conference scholar-athlete award winner. The shooter would then come back and tie an ISU Alumni Game with a three pointer at the buzzer showing she hadn’t lost her touch from distance. Grohs made 132 three point shots while a Bengal.

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March 14, 2014 – In the semi-finals of the Big Sky Conference postseason tournament, which resulted in a 78-53 loss for Idaho State at No. Dakota, Lindsey Reed finished her career as a Bengal by going 11 for 14 from the free throw line. That gave her the single season school record for most free throws made 163, surpassing Natalie Doma who held the record of 157 set in the 2007-2008 year. Reed’s final game would see her score 27 points with eight rebounds. She made first team All-Conference that year and would finish with 1,492 points and 691 rebounds. She was also named to the postseason All-Tournament team.

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March 17, 2004 – The loss to Iowa State 72-59 in the WNIT Tournament meant the end of the career of Annie Anderson as a Bengal. She only played two seasons but was good enough to be voted first team all-Big Sky Conference for her final year. That season Anderson averaged a little over 11 points and seven and a half rebounds a game. She was also named Big Sky Player of the Week twice that year.

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March 20, 2008 – In the same game where Natalie Doma closed out her career, Andrea Lightfoot did the same in the WNIT loss at Boise State. Lightfoot scored 16 points but by her going 4 for 4 from the free throw line she edged out teammate Jenna Brown for the best free throw percentage for a season in ISU history. Brown in that game went 2 for 3. Lightfoot ended the season going 145 for 161 from the line. Brown went 56 for 64. Lightfoot finished the year at 90 per cent from the charity stripe. Brown finished at 87.5 per cent. Seven players on that team shot over 80 per cent for the year. As a team ISU shot 83 per cent for the season the all time best in the NCAA history regardless of division or gender. The minimum number of attempts to qualify for the single season record is 50. Lightfoot also finished her career as the school record free throw shooter. She hit 87.5 per cent of her free throws in the three years as a Bengal. The minimum is 100 free throws made to qualify. That is also the third best mark in Big Sky history. The 83 per cent that ISU shot as a team that season is the all-time Big Sky record as well. Lightfoot finished her three year career with the Bengals as a three time all-Big Sky Conference first team selection and was named M.V.P. for the 2005-2006 season. She was named to the Big Sky Conference postseason tournament team in 2007 and was named the Big Sky Player of the Week five times.

NOTE: This will also be the final entry for this season. Will return with more facts and factoids about ISU women's basketball and their history in November 2018 as a new season begins.

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