POCATELLO, Idaho - Dec. 20 - Southern Utah women's basketball carried a lead for the first ten minutes of the game, but a hot hand by ISU's Andrea Lightfoot led to an 82-57 defeat at Idaho State on Thursday night. The loss drops the Thunderbirds to 2-8 and improves the Bengals to 8-3.
Southern Utah opened the game with the initial lead, growing to as large as eight (18-10) with 9:56 remaining in the half. The Bengals then found their shooting touch as Lightfoot hit the first of five ISU 3-point field goals over the final nine minutes of the half to spark a 27-10 run.
The run propelled Idaho State to a 37-28 advantage going into the intermission.
"We did a great job of frustrating them over that first ten minutes," head coach Steve Hodson said after the game. "But we let it get away from us over the final six minutes."
The Bengal run continued in the beginning of the second half as Lightfoot hit back-to-back 3-point fields goals. In all, ISU jacked up 33 of 59 shot attempts from long range and connected on 12. Lightfoot personally accounted for 5-of-9 from behind the arc.
Southern Utah wasn't able to recover and after shooting 23 percent in the second half wasn't able to string together a counter run. In the end, Idaho State maintained the double-digit lead through the second half to take the 82-57 home victory.
"This kind of game is why they were picked to win the Big Sky," Hodson said of Idaho State. "We need to be able to sustain the kind of effort we had in the first ten minutes of the game throughout an entire game. We had the energy tonight, but needed better mental execution to be able to counter runs."
Erin Heuett led the Thunderbirds with 11 points and added eight rebounds to fill out the box score. Anne Westwood was close behind with nine points and nine rebounds, following her first conference player of the week award on Tuesday.
ISU's Lightfoot led all scorers with 21 points and nine rebounds. Natalie Doma (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Michelle Grohs (12 points) joined her in double figures in the final box.
Southern Utah will now break for the Christmas holiday and resume its season when the Thunderbirds travel to Boulder, Colo. for a meeting with the University of Colorado. Tip-off for the Dec. 28 game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain.
