Lucas Gebhart
Sports Editor
Conference play is already under way and both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have their eyes set on Reno, host city of the Big Sky conference tournament.
The men have opened conference play with three home games going 1-2 over that stretch with a win over Northern Colorado and losses to Weber State and North Dakota.
The women have opened with three road games and have yet to find the win column. The Bengals lost to Northern Colorado by just a point and had a chance to win the basketball game in North Dakota but fell 45-42.
Last season, the women were the eight seed and gave top seeded Montana a run for their money with a 69-67 loss in the opening round. The men failed to reach the tournament.
Over the next two months, the Bengals don’t have to be the best team in the conference.
With the tournament at a neutral site, if the Bengals get hot at the right time and win the conference tournament, they will be dancing into March Madness.
That’s the magical thing about the Big Sky, it is a one bid conference. If the Bengals aren’t the best team at the end of the regular season that does not matter. They just have to win the tournament.
The 2016 tournament is different from years past. All twelve Big Sky teams will punch their tickets to Reno. No longer will the Bengals have to be one of the top eight seeds in the conference to go to the conference tournament.
The women ended non-conference play at 7-4 with losses coming to Northwestern, Michigan State, Texas Tech, and University of Texas El Paso all of which were road games. The Bengals defeated two Mountain West schools in Utah State and in state rival Boise State.
Led by seniors Apiphany Woods and Anna Policicchio, the Bengals will be a team to watch in Big Sky play. New comers Freya Newton and Brooke Blair will provide the Bengals with some new weapons that could carry them to Reno. The key for the women will be the ability to win on the road.
The men went 5-7 in non-conference play but seem to be heading in the right direction as they won their last two non-conference games including an 84-79 win over Cal State Northridge where Ali Faruq-Bey dropped 32 points.
The men have young and talented shooters. With a cool-headed Ethan Telfair running the point and leading the team in scoring, Kyle Ingram on the blocks and Gary Chivichyan coming off the bench who can light it up from downtown at a moment’s notice, teams in the Big Sky cannot sleep on the Bengals. The key for the men will be playing solid defense and rebounding. The defense does not have to be the best in the league, but it has to be good enough so the high powered offense can outscore opponents.
