Bengals aim to cut down on the fouls and turnovers after exhibition win over Northwest Nazarene

If preseason exhibition games are designed to identify problems, the Idaho State womens basketball team got a pretty clear picture of what it needs to work on after a 76-62 exhibition win over Northwest Nazarene at Reed Gym Friday night.

Fouls and turnovers.

Its rare that a team commits more fouls and turnovers than a team it beat by 14 points, but thats exactly what happened to the Bengals.

With an ugly sense of symmetry, ISU committed 21 fouls and 21 turnovers against the scrappy Division II Nighthawk team out of Nampa that applied defensive pressure throughout the contest.

Largely because of a good shooting night 30-of-56 from the floor (54.5%), and solid defense of their own (NNU shot 36% from the field), including just 3-of-22 from 3), the Bengals were able to escape with the win.

But they have plenty of things to clean up before beginning their season for real against Arizona Christian Monday night at Reed Gym.

Six different Bengals committed at least two turnovers on the night against NNUs persistent pressing man-to-man defense.

On the other end of the floor, seven Bengals committed at least two fouls.

That resulted in the Nighthawks taking 27 free throws on the night making 19 of them to outscore ISU by nine from the charity stripe.

On the plus side, ISU shot well throughout the game, hitting over 50% from the field in three of four quarters.

Sophomore post player Piper Carlson put together a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting, and junior forward Halle Wright led ISU with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field.

Wright also led ISU with four of the teams 13 steals on the night.

Point guard Sophia Covello added 14 points and guard Maria Dias came off the bench to score 13 points, grab six rebounds and hand out six assists.

She was the only bench player to score for ISU on the night.

Kacey Spink had seven points, seven rebounds and three steals, but left the game early after incurring a leg injury.

The Bengals played without returning leading scorer Tasia Jordan, who is still recovering from an injury suffered last season.

But she is expected to return in time for the Brigham Young contest on Nov.

16.

Forward Kendall Clark led NNU with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field.

Blackfoot freshman guard Rylie Edlefsen, who led Snake River High School to back-to-back state championships last February, was 0-for-4 from the field in 10 and a half minutes of play for the Nighthawks.

Arizona Christian, an NAIA school, comes into Monday nights game having upset Carroll College, the No.

8-ranked team in the NAIA ranks, on the road Thursday night.

The Firestorm overcame an 18-point deficit in the second quarter to get the win.

Guard Alyssa Alvarez scored nine of her 20 points in the fourth quarter to lead Arizona Christian.

The Lady Firestorm play at Rocky Mountain College on Saturday night before coming to Pocatello to meet the Bengals.

The ISU-Arizona Christian game begins at 7 p.m.

and can be seen on ESPN+ and heard on KISU radio..

This article has been shared from the original article on idahostatejournal, here is the link to the original article.