kang@journalnet.com

POCATELLO - Cara Lambert admitted she shouldn't have allowed St. Mary's to steal an offensive rebound from Idaho State with less a minute left of Saturday's game.

Oana Iacovita insisted she should have hit her open 3-pointer with the game clock winding down.

Either sequence might have overturned Idaho State's 75-71 loss to St. Mary's at Reed Gym. But the same could have been said of many other plays in the game.

The bottom line is, the Bengals once again launched a ferocious second-half charge but faded at the end and failed to complete the comeback. Not even career-best scoring efforts from seniors Michelle Grohs (23 points) and Jenna Brown (18 points) could nudge Idaho State past its West Coast Conference opponent.

"I'm tired of these close games. I want to pull out the win," Brown said. "We're constantly playing catch-up from the beginning, and that's something that we have to stop doing."

For the second straight game, Idaho State (3-9) almost recovered from a double-digit second-half deficit. Against Utah Valley last week, the Bengals tied the score with 8:09 to go before losing 76-65.

Idaho State mustered a more exciting comeback Saturday. Trailing by 21 early in the second half, the Bengals clawed their way backto within two, 73-71, and had the ball with 16 seconds left. Brown attracted a swarm of St. Mary's defenders by driving into the paint and then kicked the ball out to an open Iacovita on the left baseline, but her trey clanged off the rim.

"It was a pretty good look; I just didn't score," Iacovita said. "There was a little bit of pressure shooting that 3, but I should have made it. I'm really disappointed."

The Bengals might not even have needed that score if not for an earlier series. Nursing a 69-68 lead, St. Mary's guard Sierra Chambers stole the ball from Devin Diehl. Chambers missed the fast-break layup, but a trailing Alex Carbonel scored off the putback and got fouled.

Still, Idaho State remained within one score when Carbonel missed her free throw, but Gaels post Maija Lahde outjumped everyone for another putback to make it 73-68. During an ensuing timeout, Sobolewski loudly admonished Lambert, "That's why you were in there." He had substituted Lambert in right before the free throw, and she lined up to rebound on the outside, instead of right underneath the hoop.

"I guess it doesn't make sense," Lambert said. "I'm taller. I should have been in."

The two sequences neutralized what otherwise was a spirited effort from the Bengals. They trailed 51-30 with 18:23 remaining in the game, largely because of their struggles with the Gaels' transition attack as well as 6-foot-4 post Louella Tomlinson's array of post moves and outside shots, which gave her 22 points.

Idaho State's upperclassmen then made it a game. Iacovita, who didn't start for the first time this year, scored eight of her 10 in the second half. Brown also chipped in 11 of her 18 during that span by relentlessly attacking the hoop and getting to the foul line. The Bengals finished 23-for-28 from the stripe, while the Gaels threw them a lifeline by going 17-for-32.

Idaho State also prevented St. Mary's (3-9) from sprinting the court by taking better care of the ball and picking up their players on the fast-break.

"The thing that was really impressive to me was how we controlled the tempo a lot better in the second half," Sobolewski said. "We wanted to slow things down to our pace and chip away at the score. There's no 14-point shot you can make in basketball being down 14. We had to whittle away at it, and that was our strategy."

The Bengals ended up whittling away at the lead, all right. Just not all of it.

Should they have completed the task by making plays down the stretch? Or should they have prevented their deficit from ballooning by beginning the game stronger?

Sobolewski seemed equally displeased with both those flaws. Either way, it led to a loss.

"We have to find a way of getting it done when the game is tight," Sobolewski said. "It looks like a very similar pattern. We get down. We fight to come back. We maybe even tie it and put ourselves in the position to win, and we don't finish well."