Seiji Wood
Sports Editor
The Idaho State women’s basketball team began its season last week and has a veteran-stacked lineup with a lot of newcomers.
Idaho State returns eight letter winners and four starters from last season’s squad that finished fifth in the Big Sky with a 21-11 overall record while finishing 11-7 in conference play.
The Bengals made it to the semifinals in the conference tournament last season before falling to eventual champion Northern Colorado, 73-66.
The Bengals will look to lean heavily on their returners. The Bengals return three players that averaged double-digit points a season ago in Grace Kenyon (12.9 ppg), Saylair Grandon (10.9 ppg) and Estefania Ors (11 ppg).
Departing from the team is guard Brooke Blair, who averaged 13.2 points per game, the only lost starter from last year’s squad.
However, ISU returns the majority of its contributors in blocks and rebounds, including Kenyon, who led the team in both categories. Kenyon earned preseason all-conference honors earlier this month.
The Bengals also have a lot of new incoming talent this season, including redshirt freshmen Nuria Barrientos, Ellie Smith, Kaitlyn Bell, transfer Melisa Kadic, and true freshmen Montana Oltrogge and Callie Bourne, who all look to contribute this season.
“I’m really excited about the players we have committed right now,” said head Seton Sobolewski through a phone interview in August. “People are coming in and I think they’re going to keep the level of success, on and off the court, really high.”
The Bengals were picked to finish third in the Big Sky coaches’ poll and fourth by the media.
Sobolewski is in his 11th season as head coach and carries a winning record. He has led the team to two postseason tournament appearances – one NCAA tournament berth and one WNIT tournament appearance.
Sobolewski’s success at ISU earned him a five-year contract extension during the offseason, keeping him in Pocatello through May 2023.
“It feels good,” he said. “I’m just really happy the university likes what we have been doing. My family and I really feel we are a part of this community now. We probably have been for some time, but it’s nice that we get to stay here and raise our kids in a very safe community and let them go to good schools and be in a place where we can be happy.”
So far, the Bengals are 1-1. The victory came over Cal Baptist, 72-57.
“I thought we did a great job with our energy level in the first half,” Sobolewski said after the Cal Baptist game. “I thought we moved the ball well and took good shots.”
The loss came to the PAC 12’s Arizona, 71-46.
“I think at times our defense was great,” Sobolewski said after the Arizona game. “Two out of those four quarters, it was really good. We started off the game really well in the first half in terms of our defense…We just really struggled on offense today. We had a lot of great open looks and didn’t make many of them.”
Idaho State has seven more non-conference games before conference play tips off.
The Bengals open their conference play against Idaho Dec. 29, but before that, ISU will face power house opponents in Gonzaga, Utah and Georgia Tech, all on the road.
The Bengals will also play a set of games in Cancun before returning home Nov. 29, when ISU goes up against Benedictine University.
