POCATELLO - It was no accident the Idaho State women's basketball team got to the free-throw line 22 times in its 71-54 win over Eastern Washington on Thursday at Reed Gym.

The Bengals knew coming into the game the Eagles consistently would switch on high-post screens, and senior point guard Jenna Brown capitalized by aggressively trying to drive around the Eagles' posts whenever that happened.

The slower posts had a hard time stopping her, and on at least three occasions in bonus situations, they bumped Brown and sent her to the charity stripe. Brown buried 9-of-11 foul shots, and Idaho State hit 16-of-22 overall, an improvement on its 16.9 attempts entering the game.

"You've got to take advantage of that, a big post on a smaller guard," Brown said. "That's what we did. We exposed that."

Short-handed

With junior college transfer Andrea Blodgett out for the season due to academic issues, Idaho State coach Seton Sobolewski said earlier this week he would use sophomore guard Chelsea Pickering to spell Brown at point guard.

Sobolewski tossed Pickering into her new role with 12:51 remaining in the first half, but that stint didn't go too well.

On Idaho State's ensuing two possessions, Cara Lambert committed a turnover, and Pickering followed by missing a 3-pointer. At the next stoppage at the 11:51 mark, Sobolewski substituted Brown back in the game, and the senior ended up playing 38 minutes.

"Honestly, I don't like it," Pickering said, with a sheepish grin, of playing the point. "But if coach needs me to do it, then I'm gonna do it for him."

Sobolewski said Pickering will remain Brown's primary backup, and Sheila Adams will see some time at the point as well.

Hustler

Thursday's box score didn't fully reflect Pickering's contributions to the team. Despite having suffered wrist, elbow and ankle injuries all season, the sophomore guard fearlessly threw her body around for loose balls and forced two tie-ups, on top of her four steals.

Pickering also snatched an offensive rebound amidst three Eagles on a missed Oana Iacovita free throw in the first half.

"I'm always going to be injured; that's just the truth," said Pickering, who also dished out a game-high five assists. "But coach has been on me with my effort. My effort has been lacking in practice, so I felt like this game, I just really needed to push through with everything that has been bringing me down. I just wanted to prove that I could be very aggressive and get boards and dive for looes balls."

This and that

Idaho State carried a lead into halftime for the first time in seven games. The Bengals last pulled that off when they led Montana Western 39-28 to begin the second half of a Dec. 3 contest.