The University of Idaho Argonaut

Vandal point gaurd Charlotte Otero drives to the basket from the three-point line Sunday afternoon during the exhibition game against Northwest Christian. Otero and the Vandals won the contest 82-52.

A regulation college basketball game consists of two 20-minute periods, for a total of 40 minutes. Last season, Idaho Vandals point guard Charlotte Otero played an average of 40.6 minutes per game.

Playing virtually every minute of every one of her team’s 28 games, including three overtime contests, Otero led the NCAA nationally in minutes per game, while racking up 6.2 points and 3.6 assists per game.

“It was pretty crazy,” Otero said.

With just six scholarship players, a history of failure and little time to implement his system, not much was expected of newly-hired coach Jon Newlee’s squad. But the Vandals shocked the WAC by turning in their best performance since joining the conference — a 13-15 overall record, 10-6 in the WAC.  Otero’s iron will and non-stop commitment made that turnaround possible, Newlee said.

“That stat really is phenomenal,” Newlee said. “Without Charlotte doing what she did every night, we wouldn’t have had near the record we had. We had a good rotation at the post, but she was really my only option at point guard.

We needed her and she came through.”

What impressed Newlee even more than Otero’s game performance, however, was her commitment to the team work ethic and helping the team.

“Charlotte is not one of those kids that coasts in practice and turns it on in the game,” Newlee said. “She went as hard as she could whether we were playing or practicing. She was so used to going hard for two hours (in practice), 40 minutes was a breeze.”

With a year of experience in his new coaching system, Newlee is expecting Otero to step up as the team’s floor general. He said her personality fits his view of a natural leader. As one of the Vandals’ two seniors, she also has the right mix of on-court experience and trust of her teammates, he said.

“She’s going to be in charge of this team,” Newlee said. “It’s her team, and people will get in line and follow her as long as she’s leading them the right way.”

The challenge to lead is an opportunity she relishes.

“I know what the coaches expect out of me and I know what they want,” Otero said. “I love being that floor leader. I want to do that.”

Otero hails from San Diego, Calif., where she played for one of the state’s top high school teams. During her four years at San Diego High, the Cavers never lost a league game, went to the state tournament twice and, in her sophomore year, made it to the state title game before losing out   . One of her teammates was Charde Houston, who went on to play for national powerhouse UConn and now plays in the WNBA.

She originally planned to attend a community college in Arizona, but her high school coach convinced her to aim her sights higher — and northward.

“My coach said ‘Go try Idaho, give it a chance.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to go, it’s Idaho, I don’t know what’s out there, I don’t even know where that is,” Otero said. “But they convinced me to come out on a visit, the day after I graduated high school, and that changed my mind — I wanted to come play up here.”

Otero spent two years playing for Idaho’s previous coach, Mike Divilbiss, who was fired at the end of the 2007-08 season.  She doesn’t miss the old staff, and said the Newlee regime has brought not only a new style of play to the Vandals, but a new spirit as well.

“Under coach Newlee, the game is more our style of play, the way I want to play,” Otero said. “Before, it was all about slow it down, run this play, run that play. Now, we run up and down the court all the time. It makes the game so much more fun to play and I’m sure it’s much more fun to watch.”

She said Newlee’s coaching staff is more supportive of the team, and in turn the team has more respect for the staff — and more confidence in the schemes they’re running.

This season, Otero will be leading a much deeper squad — with newcomers including 6-3 Idaho State transfer Ally Sisel-Kumpfer, North Idaho College standout Bianca Cheever and freshman sharpshooter Kanisha Bello. Otero said that depth will give Idaho the ability to run an even faster-paced gameplan than the already-uptempo pace seen last season.

“With having a lot more fresh legs, it’s going to change everything,” Otero said. “Last year we had to calm it down because people got tired. This year we can sub in and out and keep going as hard as we can. That will allow us to all play to our full potential.”

In some ways, Otero believes the challenges the Vandals endured last year will make them a stronger — and hungrier — team this season. With every player having to step up and make big contributions and take big minutes, Otero said the team came together as a unit in a way she hadn’t seen before.

“If we did that well last year for our first season with coach Newlee, what’s going to happen this year?” Otero said.

“We can only really expect things to get better.”

“Better” for Otero means nothing less than a WAC Tournament championship. That would give the Vandals their first postseason berth since Pat Dobratz took the squad to the Women’s NIT title in 1986.

“My goal this year is to win the WAC — period,” Otero said. “It’s my last year here, and before it was never really in our reach. After last season I feel like we can do this.”