GREELEY, Colo. — There’s still a long way to go, but when all is said and done this may turn out to be one of those very special seasons for a very special group of players.

The Idaho State women’s basketball team refused to fold down the stretch, and in a tough game against a physical opponent, picked up a big 73-69 win over Northern Colorado. It put the Bengals in sole possession of third place in the Big Sky Conference, only two games behind league-leading Idaho.

ISU is now 16-7 on the year, 9-3 in league play, 8-3 on the road and winners of 11 of its last 14 games.

UNC fell to 17-8 for the season, 8-4 in the Big Sky.

It was a heart-stopping finish.

The Bengals took a 67-64 lead with 2:57 left on a Tasia Jordan jumper. But back came the Bears as guard Neenah George − their leading scorer for the season − made a tremendous move inside the lane. She split two defenders that sandwiched her and muscled in a layup. Alyse Aby fouled her on the move, and George’s ensuing free throw tied the game up again at 67 apiece.

Then Piper Carlson took over for Idaho State.

Her second-chance layup with 1:10 remaining put ISU back up by a pair. After Tatum West made her own layup with 40 seconds to go to tie the game yet again, Carlson put in the eventual game-winner. She hit a contested layup with 13 seconds left in the game.

Idaho Falls native Aspen Caldwell set the play up. With the shot clock running down, she found a seam into the lane, drew multiple defenders to her, yet was still able to get the ball to Carlson.

Carlson missed the free throw, however, and the game wasn’t over.

After a timeout advanced the ball into the frontcourt, UNC set up George to try to tie it for the third time in the final three minutes, but she missed the layup. Carlson got the rebound, was fouled and converted both free throws to seal the deal.

The Minnesota native scored the final six points for Idaho State. It was her first game-winning shot in her three years in Pocatello.

It was also the 23rd time under head coach Seton Sobolewski that the Bengals wound up winning a game in the final 30 seconds or less and the second one this year.

ISU beat the University of Portland in Hawaii back in November, 58-57, on a layup by Kasey Spink with 13 seconds left in that one.

Speaking of Spink, she had one of her finest performances in the Bengal win.

She had a game-high 20 points, including draining four 3-point shots for the first time in her Bengal career. Spink added five rebounds, four assists and four steals. The five rebounds pushed her past Holly Togiai into sixth place on the all-time list. Spink has 766 of them with six regular-season games left to go.

It was a battle between the top-2 defenses in the Big Sky. So points were hard to come by.

ISU was able to put a run together, outscoring Northern Colorado 16-4 in the second quarter to lead 37-29 at halftime.

But the Bears found their shooting touch in the third quarter, hitting 8-of-11 shots (73%) and 4-of-5 from 3-point range (80%) to lead by two, 54-52, going into the final frame.

But in the final period, ISU did a better job defensively, holding UNC to 33% (5 of 15) while they shot 44% (7-of-16). So that along with Carlson making the key plays at the end, allowed the Bengals to walk out of Bank of Colorado Arena with a win.

The Bengals forced 20 turnovers leading to 28 points. They also had 13 offensive rebounds leading to 14 points, 11 fast-break points, 10 steals and 34 points in the paint against the bigger front line of Northern Colorado.

Besides Spink’s 20 points, Jordan added 16 and Carlson finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. The ISU bench, which played such a big role in Thursday’s win at Northern Arizona, chipped in again with 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists coming from Asa Wolfram, Maeva Gauffrenet, Tylie Jones and Hallie Wright.

“This was a good win against a good team,” Sobolewski said. “UNC is a tough matchup for us but we figured it out.”

He then talked about the job Spink and Carlson did.

“Kasey had some exceptional shooting today and Piper was clutch with the inside layups and free throws to finish off the game.”

Northern Colorado had four players in double figures with George and West leading the way with 12 points each.

ISU is back home Thursday night with a game against Eastern Washington. The Eagles lost a close one to second-place Montana State 71-69 Saturday afternoon. The game will mark the return to Reed Gym for former ISU player and assistant coach Dora Goles, who is now on the staff for the Eagles. Game time is 7 p.m.