POCATELLO - The Idaho State women's basketball team had stalled on offense, allowing its unheralded NAIA opponent, Montana Western, to take the lead late in a low-scoring first half.

Bengals coach Seton Sobolewski called a timeout and huddled his players - and didn't say a single word about offense.

"We weren't doing much wrong offensively," freshman guard Sheila Adams said. "Most of that first timeout, it was a lot about defense."

Adams' assessment of Idaho State's early offensive showing perhaps was a little generous, but it was certainly true of the rest of the game.

The Bengals torched the Bulldogs with a huge run in the final five minutes of the half, a surge that carried over into the rest of their first regular-season home game and lifted them to an 83-60 win Wednesday at Reed Gym.

Whether it was drives, backdoor cuts, catch-and-shoot moves or 3-pointers, the Bengals showed off a gamut of offensive tricks, hitting 22 of their final 32 field goals. Senior Michelle Grohs led all scorers with 19 points, and wings Chelsea Pickering and Sheila Adams also finished in double figures.

"That's one of the things we've been trying to emphasize, is getting the ball inside a little bit more," Sobolewski said. "It's really easy to get into the habit of moving it around the perimeter outside the 3-point line and not doing anything threatening or penetrating, and that's what we tried to improve on."

For much of the first half, resorting to the quick trey seemed to be Idaho State's best option. Idaho State trailed 22-20 with 4:49 remaining in the period but blistered Montana Western with a 19-6 streak after Sobolewski's timeout.

Much of the turnaround had to do with stuffing the Bulldogs on defense, but the Bengals also had Grohs to thank for her 12 points during that span, including a 3-pointer that got the rally started.

"The team fed the ball to me when I was open," Grohs said. "It's just basketball. You just go out there and play. If you're open and you feel confident, you've got to shoot if it's the right time."

That spurt helped the Bengals (3-5) take a 39-28 lead into halftime, and the rest of the team took over from there.

Posts Oana Iacovita, Cara Lambert and Jeni Guertin bullied their way to easy layups. Point guard Jenna Brown, who finished with nine points and nine assists, attacked the rim and got to the foul line.

When Montana Western switched to a zone defense, Idaho State shredded it with a high-low formation that led to one open layup after another.

"The intensity level maybe was a little higher," Pickering said. "We pushed the ball a little more and were able to get people the ball, and they were able to knock down the shots."

With Grohs taking a back seat with just one basket after halftime, Adams and Pickering shouldered the scoring load by combining for 19 points in the period.

Pickering, who reclaimed a spot in the starting lineup after coming off the bench against North Dakota State, finished with a career-high 13 points.

"Most games, I rush a lot of things," Pickering said. "When I take a step back and don't force as many things, it flows easily."

The belated surge helped Idaho State rack up an impressive game total of 56.6 percent shooting from the field, a number that hardly surprised the Bengals considering the way they played.

"We were getting easy shots - layups and easy jump shots, wide open," Adams said. "When you get easy shots like that, it's easy to get your percentage up."