Vandals setting sights high

With four returning starters, Idaho women’s basketball set for season

A new conference offers new challenges for an Idaho’s women’s basketball team entering the Big Sky Conference after coming off consecutive WAC titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. The Vandals open the season 6 p.m. Tuesday for an exhibition game against Central Washington in Memorial Gym.

“It’s a new beginning and a new challenge I think,” senior guard Stacey Barr said. “We were in the WAC the three years that I’ve been here. I think it will be good to play against some new teams and new faces.”

The Vandals have had experience over the last few years playing in big games at the biggest event of the year — the NCAA Tournament. Barr said the experience should help the team as it heads heads into a tougher conference.

In 2013, the Vandals played against eventual national champion Connecticut and last year they faced off with Louisville, a team that later advanced to the Elite 8.

The NCAA Tournament, which Idaho coach Jon Newlee has visited seven times as a coach, but only twice as a head coach, will always be the team’s end goal, he said.

The move to the Big Sky, however, won’t be the first time Newlee has coached in the Big Sky. He spent some time at Idaho State before coming to Idaho.

“We don’t really know those teams, we have played a few of them in the past, but they are all new from the time I was in the Big Sky,” Newlee said. “Some of the coaches are still the same, so I think I know the systems and how they are going to play, but talent-wise we have no idea.”

The Vandals return four starters from last year’s team that was able to hang with Louisville for much of their NCAA Tournament opening round loss. The experience has helped quicken the pace of practices early on, Newlee said.

“Any time you can return that many starters, you know the next year is going to go much more smoothly in the early going,” he said. “We have been able to pick up the pace in practice and have put a lot more things in at this point than we ever have. It has been a great advantage so far.”

The lone starter that isn’t returning is do-everything-player Alyssa Charlston, but Vandals are confident that they have more than enough talent to compensate.

“Alyssa definitely leaves big shoes to fill,” Barr said. “We have a couple of girls who can definitely step up and take that role, but I think as a team we are all going to have to step up and fill the void together.”

Barr, the reigning WAC Player of the Year, has really stood out so far in practice as expected, Newlee said.

Newlee said sophomore guard Karlee Wilson and sophomore post Brooke Riley, who are coming off of knee and back injuries respectively,  have fully recovered from their injuries and have also stepped up.

Along with Barr, having two other players going into their third years in Christina Salvatore and Connie Ballestero could help as well.

“We are a team and she was a great player here, but we have great players still here,” Newlee said. “Stacey (Barr) and I think Christina (Salvatore) and Connie (Ballestero) both have really stepped up as juniors now and have done nothing but win championships here. So yeah, you are going to lose one, but you are always going to lose somebody and we are more than capable of doing that.”

Barr is going into the season with the lofty honor of being named the preseason Big Sky Player of the Year, but she is up to the challenge it brings.

“I don’t think it is too much pressure,” Barr said. “I definitely am glad that other coaches and players around the conference respect me, but it’s not a pressure thing.”

Barr said the team is anxious to get out there and play against someone who isn’t a teammate.

“At this time, everybody is ready to play somebody else,” Newlee said. “They are tired of beating each other up I think, so it will be fun to get out there on Tuesday and see what we look like against somebody else.”

Joshua Gamez can be reached at [email protected]