POCATELLO - With 10 minutes to go before the tipoff of Idaho State's 75-71 loss to St. Mary's on Saturday, the Bengals stormed into Reed Gym with a new warm-up routine.

Instead of a casual shootaround, the Bengals ran through a variety of sprints and game-speed layups. Their instructions from coach Seton Sobolewski: "You've got to go out and go hard. You've got to get tired. You've got to break a sweat. You've got to be ready to meet the intensity of the game once the ball is tipped."

Sobolewski implemented the switch with the intention of correcting the Bengals' habit of starting games slowly. Idaho State fell behind Boise State and Utah Valley by 20-7 and 18-11 scorelines last week, but it didn't fare much better Saturday, allowing St. Mary's to rack up a 12-4 lead.

The Bengals remain puzzled about how to reverse that trend.

"It's just playing every possession like we're in the second half," senior post Michelle Grohs said. "It's frustrating because we can say it, and now we just need to do it."

Rejected

Time and again in the first half, the Bengals drove into the lane only to meet the same outcome: a block by 6-foot-4 St. Mary's post Louella Tomlinson.

Tomlinson swatted six shots before halftime alone.

Posts Oana Iacovita, Michelle Grohs and Cara Lambert refused to back off, though, attacking her with even more pots-up moves after halftime. Tomlinson picked up her fourth foul with 12:47 left to play on a Lambert drive and rejected just one more shot after that.

"It's very frustrating," Tomlinson said. "It's hard for me to stay composed with four fouls when all I want to do is go up after that next block."

Off the bench

Lambert started her second straight game, this time in place of Iacovita. Sobolewski said he made the decision because he thought Lambert, at 6-foot-2 and stronger than Iacovita, would better defend Tomlinson in the post.

Sobolewski also said Idaho State's starting center position would likely alternate between the two players in the future, depending on matchups. Iacovita, Idaho State's second-leading scorer at 11.7 points per contest, had no problems with that arrangement.

"It doesn't matter when you get in, as long as you get in and do your job," Iacovita said. "It doesn't really matter who starts. Coach knows better who to start."

Almost there

Sophomore guard Chelsea Pickering returned from a two-game absence due to her sprained right ankle and logged 12 minutes.

Pickering scored three points and collected two rebounds but also turned the ball over four times. Having been limited at practice, Pickering appeared to have trouble re-adjusting to game conditions.

"It's also a misconception to think that she's back, her ankle is back, and now she's going to be where she left off," Sobolewski said. "It takes a little bit of time to get your timing back and to get into the flow of things."