Alyssa Charlston said that what she wants to be remembered for is leaving the program in a better place than she found it. As good as her personal accolades have been, she wants people to associate Idaho basketball with success as a team, more so than people remembering her as an individual performer.
If she wants to leave the program in a better place than she found it, it’s safe to say that’s been accomplished already.
Charlston came into a program in 2010 that hadn’t achieved a winning record since 2005 and a program that hadn’t been to an NCAA Tournament since 1985.
If she has anything to do with it, the program will qualify for back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since the program was incepted in 1974. Idaho is overwhelmingly favored to win the WAC Tournament next week as the No. 1 seed.
Last Saturday Idaho won its first regular season conference championship since 1985, which was the last time it went to the NCAA Tournament prior to 2013.
This Saturday, if all goes well in Las Vegas, it will be her final time playing at the Cowan Spectrum. (There is a possibility Idaho could host games in the WNIT should it not qualify for the NCAA Tournament.)
“Without a doubt, it’ll be one of my most emotional senior days I think, Alyssa ranks right up there with the best players I’ve ever coached and the best people,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “Maybe the best person I’ve ever coached. She’s the entire package of what you dream about as a coach recruiting a player in here.”
With a win over UMKC on Saturday, Idaho will have 20 wins over D-I opponents for the first time since 2004.
“She’s special, she’s a part of some really special years at Idaho and she’ll always remember that,” Newlee said. “She’s a humongous part of that and she can be proud for the rest of her life of what she’s done here, the height she’s helped elevate the program to.”
Newlee said the day she committed he called her a program changer.
“I said to my staff ‘our program just changed man, we just got Alyssa Charlston.'”
From the time she got to campus, she’s been an immediate contributor. She played off the bench her freshman year and averaged 6.2 points per game before stepping into the leadership, and star, role her sophomore season.
Coming out of Eastlake (Wash.) High School she had options of where she wanted to player her college basketball which included Saint Marys, Iowa State and a handful of Ivy League schools. The ability to build the program up at Idaho is what intrigued her the most.
“I look back to my senior night of high school and it’s not even in the same book, it’s going to be completely different because I’ve just became who I am through this program and I really feel that way,” Charlston said. “I’ve grown so much as a person and a player and I expect so much more of myself because of the experiences I’ve had here and it’s because of the people I’ve been surrounded by.”
Currently, Charlston is essentially guaranteed a third consecutive first team All-WAC selection and is a prime candidate for conference player of the year, though will face stiff competition from teammate Stacey Barr.
This season Charlston is averaging 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, shooting 44-percent of the field.
She will be one of two seniors honored Saturday against UMKC. The other is Addie Schivo, who has been a savior in the backcourt after back-up point guard Karlee Wilson went down for the season with a knee injury.
The junior college transfer from San Francisco has been as important to Idaho’s success, Newlee and teammates say.