BOZEMAN, Mont. — For a brief moment it looked like the Idaho State women’s basketball team was going to pull off yet another stunner.

Tylie Jones launched a deep shot from the wing with 4:01 to go that gave the Bengals a 58-57 lead over Montana State at Worthington Arena.

But that moment was short-lived. The Bobcats weren’t the defending league champions for nothing. They came right down on the next possession and Ella Johnson dropped in a three-ball to retake the lead and the Bobcats never looked back, outscoring ISU 10-3 to lock down a hard-fought 67-61 win.

They remained one game behind Idaho in the standings, upping their record to 20-6, 13-2 in league play and 12-0 at home.

With the loss, the Bengals dropped to 18-9 on the season, 11-5 in Big Sky play and fell back into fourth place, a half-game behind Northern Colorado.

This was probably the most bizarre game ISU played this season.

The game officials were calling everything. The two teams combined for 51 fouls and 64 free throw attempts. Idaho State had three players, Alyse Aby, Hallie Wright and Maeva Gauffrenet, foul out. Aspen Caldwell and Piper Carlson were hit with four each.

No one fouled out for the deeper Bobcats although they had three players pick up four fouls each.

Normally in a closely called game, conventional wisdom said the teams would back off and try to reduce the chance for an official to make a call but that wasn’t how Montana State operated.

They were deep, lengthy and physical. They pressured opponents almost coming out of the locker room and, regardless of the foul situation, they didn’t change their style.

That style caused major issues for the Bengals who turned the ball over 23 times, nine of those in the first quarter alone, leading to 21 points. Idaho State was forced into throwing a number of long passes down the floor to beat the pressure and the double-teams which led to a number of interceptions by MSU. The Bobcats also forced turnovers by attacking ISU dribblers from the side or off-hand, deflecting the ball away and leading to more possessions.

As the game wore on, much like the loss to Idaho last Saturday, the physical nature of Montana State simply took its toll on the smaller Bengal players. They gave every effort and stayed within striking distance much longer than perhaps expected but in the end they just ran out of gas. By the end of the game some of the players like Kasey Spink were breathing heavily, exhausted by the effort.

And the game could ultimately result in a much larger issue as once again, the injury bug struck.

With 6:14 remaining, Caldwell was double-teamed just as she crossed the half-court line and went down in a heap. Play was stopped and she was helped off the court, not putting any weight on her left leg and in tears. Later, on the bench, she was on crutches and with her left shoe and sock off which could indicate an ankle injury.

If she was out, head coach Seton Sobolweski would be down to having to use a third point guard as Caldwell took over admirably for Sophia Covello, who was lost for the season after only six games when she tore her ACL in a noncontact injury in practice.

When fall semester began, ISU had 16 players on the roster. If Caldwell was out, they’d be down to only nine healthy bodies with two regular-season games remaining before the postseason tournament in Boise. Three years ago they had only eight available players for the tournament, two years ago only seven were available to dress and play.

Questions were also being asked about the status of leading scorer Tasia Jordan. She played eight minutes in the loss, only briefly in the second half and was on the bench still dressed in her uniform with no apparent injury.

Wright led the Bengals with 14 points and nine rebounds in the game. She had a terrific road trip. In the two games in the Treasure State, Hallie had 23 points and 18 rebounds.

Spink wound up with another double-double, 11 points and 10 rebounds. Carlson had the exact same numbers too, 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Montana State saw freshman Jamison Philip pour in 21 points. Probable league MVP Taylee Chirrick had 14 and Johnson 11.

ISU shot 31% for the game, 35% from three and 77% from the line while MSU countered with 32% from the floor, 22% from three and 68% from the free throw line.

The Bengals outrebounded Montana State 48-39 but the Bobcats had 15 steals, seven blocks and only 12 turnovers.

ISU now had to regroup, hope Caldwell wasn’t seriously hurt and get ready for a game at Weber State next Saturday. The Wildcats were among the worst teams in the Big Sky at 9-20, 3-13 in Big Sky play but they had won two of their last three conference games. Saturday they shocked Montana in Missoula 86-79 in overtime, behind 28 points from Annette Nnopu.

Tipoff time from the Dee Event Center is set for 2 p.m.