POCATELLO — It was an easy, efficient season opener for the Idaho State women’s basketball team Tuesday night, as the Bengals disposed of NAIA Arizona Christian, 93-36, in a brisk 93 minutes at Reed Gym.

“I’m glad that we were able to play better than we did in our exhibition game,” ISU head coach Seton Sobolewski said, referring to a 68-46 win over South Dakota School of Mines on Nov. 1. “We won the exhibition, we played pretty good, but there were definitely some things we wanted to improve on with our defense and our decision-making and playing a little bit simpler. I thought we did that, and you see the results of that — you score a few more points.”

The 57-point margin of victory was the third-largest in Idaho State history.

Ellie Smith led four Bengals in double figures with 14 points, but it was a full team effort, as all 13 players Idaho State put on the court scored at least once.

The Bengals forced 33 turnovers, scoring 52 points off them, and outscored Arizona Christian 64-24 in the paint and 22-0 on second-chance points.

A Des Gonzalez jumper midway through the first quarter capped an 8-2 run for the Firestorm and tied the game at 10-10, but ISU answered back with two layups from Smith — the big had 10 of her 14 points in the first — and an offensive rebound and three-point play by Estefania Ors to open up a seven-point lead again.

Ors, the lone senior on the team, finished with 12 points.

“What Estefania did tonight is, I think she found some ways to get some easy points,” Sobolewski said. “She had the and-1s, and those looked tough, but she put herself in great position to score a layup and get fouled, and to shoot open 3s, and that comes down to her experience. She kind of just has a great feel of where to be at the right time.”

The Bengals (1-0) led 24-14 after the first, and really turned things on in the second quarter, slicing through Arizona Christian’s press for easy layups and frustrating the Firestorm guards at the other end.

ISU went on separate runs of 8-0 and 11-0 in the quarter en route to outscoring ACU 28-7 in the period and taking a 52-21 lead at the break.

“I think (the starting lineup) is coming together really well,” Smith said. “We’re all pretty young, and (point guard) Dora (Goles) is coming off an injury, so she’s been away for a while, but I think we’re all pretty athletic and we can push the ball, and that’ll be fun once we get better chemistry.”

Sobolewski went to reserve-heavy lineups in the second half, but the Bengals kept dominating, outscoring Arizona Christian 24-6 in the third quarter and 17-9 in the fourth.

Freshman Tomekia Whitman scored 10 points to lead the Bengals’ bench mob.

The talent gap made it hard to take too much away from the game, but in what they could control, the Bengals were excellent.

Against ACU’s zone, Sobolewski made it a point to not take the first semi-open outside shot, and ISU obliged, working the ball into the middle of the zone for easy scoring opportunities down low and even easier 3s following kickouts.

The Bengals shot 50.6% from the field and had 26 assists on 39 field goals.

“I think the biggest challenge for us tonight was following the scouting report, because the scouting report was for us to pass up on early, easy shots,” Smith said. “I know it was hard for our good 3-point shooters to not take those early shots, but we did a really good job at sticking to what we planned to do.”

On defense, ISU communicated well as ACU (2-1) ran through its screen-heavy offense, switching at the right times and holding the Firestorm to 34.8% shooting.

Up next

ISU hosts Seattle University on Monday.

Notes

Redshirt freshman guard Diaba Konate showed her potential on defense, leading the Bengals with four steals and several other deflections. ... Callie Bourne had 11 points for ISU, and Carsyn Boswell and Irene Vicente both added eight off the bench. ... Junior Delaney Moore, one of the most experienced returners for Idaho State, played just eight minutes, fewest on the team, and finished with four points. ... Sophomore Kaitlyn Bell was the last ISU player to score, going scoreless until dropping in a short hook shot with 4:36 left in the game. ... Sophomore guard Nuria Barrientos was dropped to the floor by a crossover in one of her early appearances, but came back by hitting Arizona Christian defenders with nasty behind-the-back moves on a few occasions. She also finished with three steals. “I thought, late in the game there, Nuria did a great job of getting some steals and deflections and coming up with some rebounds. She made some really nice plays late,” Sobolewski said.