kang@journalnet.com

First, the Idaho State women lost junior post Oana Iacovita to her fifth foul. Then, Devin Diehl. Verity Peets followed soon after.

By the end of Idaho State's 78-77 overtime loss to Weber State on Saturday, the Bengals were sporting a lineup of two regulars, walk-on Kari Green, seldom-used post Jeni Guertin and freshman Sheila Adams playing on a gimpy left ankle.

"It was just frustrating down at the end," senior point guard Jenna Brown said.

The Bengals have scuffled all season long with having to play with a short-handed roster. But nowhere was that stark reality more apparent than Saturday at Reed Gym against a Wildcats team that entered the day 1-6 and dead last in the Big Sky.

Playing without their top weapons, the Bengals struggled defensively and on the glass just enough in overtime for the Wildcats to pull away. The spoiler of an ending overshadowed Brown's career-high 24 points and the role she played in willing the Bengals back from a double-digit second-half deficit.

The loss also cost Idaho State a chance to move into a three-way tie for third place at the midway point of the conference season. Instead, the Bengals fell into a four-way tie for fifth place, just one game out of the Big Sky cellar.

"We obviously hoped for better," senior post Michelle Grohs said. "We needed this today. Now we're just going to have to work extra hard when we're on the road."

Idaho State (6-15, 3-5 Big Sky) appeared to have all the momentum after Brown sank an unlikely scoop layup with four seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

But it was Weber State (7-14, 2-6) that opened the extra period like a team that couldn't lose. The Wildcats sank back-to-back baskets for a 68-63 lead, and the Bengals had to play their familiar game of catch-up after that.

With Adams suffering the effects of a sprained ankle and Iacovita and Diehl fouling out midway through overtime, the Wildcats capitalized by attacking the Bengals' with drives to get to the foul line. Weber State drew seven fouls in overtime and sank 7-of-14 foul shots.

Wildcats post Caitlin Anderson, who finished with 13 offensive boards and 19 total, corraled two of their free-throw misses to further frustrate the Bengals.

Grohs sank a 3-pointer to pull Idaho State to within 74-73 with 44 seconds remaining, but Sarah Conner, who finished with 24 points, responded with one of her own to bury the Bengals.

"This is what you live for - the overtime games, big shots, big defensive stops," Conner said. "Our conference play started out a little bit slow, and now we're hungry. We're really hungry to get wins, and that's how we played."

But over the final six minutes of regulation, the Bengals were equally hungry. Trailing 58-45 with 6:25 left, Idaho State showed just what it could accomplish with its full complement of players.

Behind some gritty defense and inspired offense on the part of Brown and Iacovita, who finished with 16 points, the Bengals went on an 11-0 run to whip the Reed Gym crowd into a frenzy.

Brown missed two free throws that could have tied the game with 14 seconds remaining, but Weber State missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Brown tied it up with time expiring on a baseline layup.

"She's someone that plays with a lot of toughness and heart," Idaho State coach Seton Sobolewski said. "She puts everything she's got into it."

The Bengals appeared to be brimming with confidence entering overtime, but once the extra period began, they began dropping one by one to foul trouble. For Idaho State, it was almost like losing a limb in a fight after that.

"It was just the little things," Brown said. "It was just a couple of slip-ups that just added up."

Against the Wildcats, those were just too much to overcome.