With her second double-double in two games, Jessica Tingey helped guide the Idaho State Bengals to a 61-48 win over Carroll College Monday night in Reed Gym.

    Tingey had 11 points and 12 boards in a game dominated yet again by fouls  up and down the floor. A total of 45 whistles blew for fouls, 23 of them against Idaho State. The Bengals’ first game against Black Hills State saw 51 total fouls called.

    Rebecca Schrimpsher led the Bengals in scoring with 13 points, all scored in a 10-minute span the second half. From the 15:14 mark to the 5:56 mark, Schrimpsher exploded, accounting for 13 of her team’s 14 points in that span.

    “I think Becca wasn’t satisfied with the way we were playing as a team,” said Idaho State head coach Seton Sobolewski. “I don’t think she was satisfied with how she was performing individually. So she took it upon herself to do something about it and she got aggressive. She did a great job of getting to the basket and making some things happen.”

    After holding a strong 16-point lead with a little over four minutes to go in the first half, the Bengals found themselves on the wrong end of a 16-7 Carroll College run. They went into the break with a 34-27 edge.

    Things didn’t get any better coming out of the locker room for the Bengals. Idaho State turned the ball over three times before Reed made a layup for the first points of the second half.

    That was when Schrimpsher put on her scoring clinic with the help of the Bengals around her.

    “My teammates found me on the open lane,” she said. “It’s just my teammates setting the screens and finding the open pass.”

    Schrimpsher’s scoring rally helped lift the Bengals out of their turnover funk in the beginning of the second half and kept the Saints from finding too much momentum. Bailey Snelling and Jordan Johnston set the tone for the Saints early in the second half, getting Carroll College to within seven points of the Bengals.

    It was a lead Idaho State toyed with, but never surrendered.

    “I think the game was a little bit tighter than we would’ve liked late,” Sobolewski said. “...I felt that the other team was aggressive. They’re coming out and denying and pressuring the ball.”

    But all aspects of the game weren’t great by Sobolewski’s standards. The Bengals struggled with turnovers, and Carroll College kept the point-margin in single digits until late in the game. Fouls were an issue, and the Saints saw the free-throw line 26 times.

    But Sobolewski is also seeing shooting percentages go up. He’s seeing more flow in his motion offense. Players are getting better shots, and the defense, despite the fouls, is making the transition toward being less physical.    

    It’s all still a work in progress, but Sobolewski is pleased with it so far.

    “I thought we played good defense for the most part,” he said. “Offensively, our shooting percentage is going up. It’s improved over the last two games.”

    The Bengals won’t have the opportunity to see that progress in Pocatello until Jan. 9. Nine away games stand between ISU and another date at Reed Gym. Until then, the Bengals will have to find different ways to grow away from home. According to Tingey, that should not be much of a problem.

    “It’s going to be different because we’re not at home, “she said. “We’ve got to ... keep working hard, keep playing as a team and just work on becoming better.”

    Idaho State’s Jan. 9 contest is against North Dakota at 7 p.m. in Reed Gym.