kang@journalnet.com

POCATELLO - Devin Diehl took her last exam of the semester Wednesday, but the rest of the week wasn't any less busy for Idaho State's junior wing.

"I haven't done dishes for three weeks," Diehl said. "That's what the last two days have been: dishes and laundry. I'd look up from my books and be like, oh my God, that's disgusting. But I didn't have time to clean, so that's what the last couple of days have been."

Still, the past few days have come as a tremendous relief for the Bengals. They marked the end of not just a torturous week of exams and papers, but also a semester filled with road games that wreaked havoc on the players' academics.

Idaho State now get to enjoy a much-needed Christmas break - as soon as it completes its 2 p.m. contest against St. Mary's today at Reed Gym. Idaho State coach Seton Sobolewski only hopes his players have the discipline to switch to winter-break mode after the game, and not before.

"Time will tell what happens," Sobolewski said. "That's a distraction, and you can only reach them to a certain point. They have to want to do it themselves. They have to understand that it's important enough to do that."

Keeping in mind the stress his players were facing, Sobolewski gave them a breather by canceling practice on Monday and Wednesday. Still, Tuesday's session turned out a little more sluggish than he liked.

It was perhaps inevitable. Having played all but two of their 11 games so far on the road, the Bengals each had piled up group projects, papers and assignments they had to catch up on. That and their looming finals sometimes made it hard for them to concentrate on basketball.

"Very, very, very stressful," junior post Oana Iacovita said. "It was actually really hard for me to be able to perform at 100 percent in practice. Even though I usually tend to leave school at the door, this time I couldn't, just because I had to stay up until 4:30 in the morning to study."

The Bengals are glad all that's over, but they now have a different set of distractions with which to contend - the lure of Christmas spent at home with friends and family.

For freshman Sheila Adams, who spent more time away from home this semester than at any other point in her life, that means a break from instant-noodle dinners hastily prepared in her Rendezvous Hall microwave. It means sleeping in her own bed.

"I'm really excited to go home for the break," Adams said. "I'm going to lie in bed all day and watch TV and have my mom get me food."

But the players insist they haven't had any trouble focusing on the St. Mary's game, either.

For one, "just look at our record," Diehl offered, alluding to Idaho State's 3-8 mark. That alone should fire up the team.

More importantly, as much as they've looked forward to the upcoming break, the Bengals know a loss to a 2-9 St. Mary's squad would just dampen their spirits during their five-day break.

And they've suffered through too much to allow a letdown to ruin their holiday reward.

"When I lose, I get so down. I just want to punch somebody," Adams said. "If I'm driving home if we lose, you won't want to drive with me. My family probably hopes we win too."