BOISE — On a day of close games at the Big Sky Conference women's basketball tournament, the Idaho State Bengals embraced the grind and it carried them to the semifinals.

Well, that and a hefty dose of flamethrowing by Montana Oltrogge.

Oltrogge scored 24 points, making 6 of 8 3-pointers, and the No. 3 Bengals (18-12) held off No. 6 Southern Utah (18-13) for a 70-63 win at CenturyLink Arena in Boise on Tuesday.

"Tough game," Idaho State head coach Seton Sobolewski said. "It took us a while to figure things out, especially offensively. It was scary, and it was definitely a slow build to finally figuring it out. ... A lot of things didn't go right, but they kept fighting."

Idaho State led for 34 minutes, 13 seconds, including the final 14:11 of the game, but the win wasn't secured until Dora Goles came up with a steal and then made one of two free throws with 22 seconds to go to push the Bengals' lead to 68-61.

With the win, Idaho State moves on to the semifinals on Wednesday, where the Bengals will play No. 2 Idaho.

"People from the state of Idaho, this was probably the game they were hoping for," Sobolewski said. "It should be really fun and exciting, and I hope people come out. It's kind of an old-school rivalry."

Idaho State started the game on a 7-0 run, including a foreshadowing 3-pointer by Oltrogge, but Southern Utah came back to take an 11-9 lead late in the first quarter.

ISU ended the first quarter up 17-15. They were in the same position at halftime, going to the break up 30-28.

The third quarter came in with fireworks. A 6-2 run to start the second half gave SUU a two-point lead, but Oltrogge snatched the advantage back with the first of four 3-pointers she would make in the quarter.

Another Oltrogge 3 broke a 37-37 tie, and after all-Big Sky guard Rebecca Cardenas answered with a 3 for Southern Utah, Idaho State struck back with a 9-0 run, capped by another Oltrogge 3.

The Bengals couldn't enjoy their 49-40 lead for long, though. SUU's Harley Hansen immediately answered with a four-point play, Shalyn Fano made a layup, and Claudia Armato spun in a scoop shot with 24 seconds left in the quarter to bring the Thunderbirds back to within 49-48.

After that, it looked like the underdogs would go to the fourth quarter with momentum, but Oltrogge dropped in her most audacious shot of the day, a 3-pointer from behind the NBA line on the left wing, to restore some equilibrium for Idaho State.

"(Oltrogge) played with a lot of confidence and looked for her shot," Sobolewski said. "She took a couple tough ones in the first half. You can't say enough about her confidence. She stuck with it and was looking for it."

ISU's lead fluctuated between three and six early in the fourth before Callie Bourne, who played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls, pushed it to 64-56 with a corner 3 and then a midrange jumper with 5:12 left.

"I just wanted to keep playing hard," Bourne said. "I got those fouls, so there's nothing I can do about it. I wanted to win, so I wasn't going to change anything. Coming back in, yeah, I had the four fouls in the back of my head, but I was just going to play hard and do what I had to do."

Southern Utah had one last run, closing to 64-60 with 3:05 to go, but Diaba Konate stopped it with a jumper in the lane and the Thunderbirds didn't get closer than five points the rest of the way.

Bourne and Konate added 12 points apiece for Idaho State, while Goles had 10, seven rebounds and four assists.

Up next:

Idaho State plays Idaho at CenturyLink Arena in Boise on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Notes:

— ISU's seven-point win was the largest margin of victory in the four quarterfinal games Tuesday. Top seed Montana State beat No. 8 Northern Colorado by five, No. 5 Northern Arizona upset No. 4 Montana by three, and No. 2 Idaho came from behind to beat No. 7 Portland State by two.

"Conference tournaments, people are giving it their all," Sobolewski said. "They're playing really tough. You see it across the board, nation-wide."

— Goles tumbled over the Idaho State bench while chasing a loose ball in the fourth quarter. It was a scary flashback to her last game at a Big Sky Conference tournament, when she tore her ACL in the final seconds of ISU's loss to Northern Colorado in 2018. But the guard got back up after a minute or so of treatment, checked back in at the next dead ball, and went on to finish the game.

"I think it made our team play harder, and it definitely brought up the energy," Goles said. "I think they got kind of scared for me and were like, we're not going to lose this one. Then when I got back in, we just played even harder than that."

Of Goles' seven rebounds, five were offensive, a season-high.

"My shots weren't going in, so I had to contribute somehow, and I was just trying to work hard and get my team the ball," Goles said.

— Southern Utah dropped way off of Konate when ISU's dynamic redshirt freshman had the ball behind the 3-point line, putting Cardenas, her defender, all the way back in the paint. The Thunderbirds were aiming to take away Konate's driving ability and force her into jump shots, the weakest part of her game.

"They hadn't done that the first two times," Sobolewski said. "That's weird to get used to. You're so open — do you shoot it, do you not, do you keep moving? It really puts people out of position at times."

The gambit worked — kind of. Konate was tempted into shooting four 3s, which tied her career-high, and made just one. Her 12 points came on an inefficient 10 field-goal attempts. But Konate also tied Goles for the team lead in assists with four, committed two turnovers, and was the primary defender on Cardenas, the Big Sky's leading scorer, who finished with 12 points on nine shots and four turnovers. With Southern Utah down six and under a minute left, Konate denied Cardenas, keeping her from even touching the ball, which eventually led to an SUU turnover and Goles' clinching free throw.

"With Diaba's athleticism and how quick she is, she's just a great defender," Sobolewski said. "I would love to see a (Big Sky) all-defensive team, because Diaba deserves to be on there. ... Some people say, 'Look at how far they're sagging off Diaba,' and it can be disruptive sometimes in terms of her defender helping so far into the paint. Yeah, it might take away a little of our offense, but how much does she take away on the other end, defensively? That's where the difference comes in, and that's why you don't take her off the floor."

Konate was a game-high plus-13.

— Oltrogge's 24 points were a career-high. ... Bourne had been 0 for 4 on 3-pointers before her big shot late. ... Nuria Barrientos played 14 minutes, tying her season-high, and got the nod over fellow reserve guards Jordan Sweeney and Carsyn Boswell after Bourne's fourth foul. Barrientos didn't shoot, but pulled down four rebounds, finished plus-6 (third on the team), and got to show off her picturesque behind-the-back dribble.

IDAHO STATE 70, SOUTHERN UTAH 63

Southern Utah 15 13 20 15 — 63

Idaho State 17 13 22 18 — 70

Southern Utah — Cardenas 12, Armato 9, Fano 7, Hansen 13, Chatman 5, Larsen 4, Eaton 7, Frandsen 6.

Idaho State — Goles 10, Bourne 12, Smith 4, Konate 12, Oltrogge 24, Moore 8.