After starting out conference play 2-0, the Idaho women’s basketball team has struggled since the Big Sky-Summit Challenge games. The Vandals have gone 0-3 since then, losing their last two games 61-56.
Idaho is 2-7 at home, with both wins coming against non-D1 opponents, but are 6-1 on the road. Idaho is hitting the road this weekend to take on Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado.
However, not all the cards are stacked in favor of Idaho this week. While graduate student forward Hope Butera has been out with an injury since Jan. 6, the news got worse this week.
“Hope Butera sustained a knee injury against Chicago State,” Head Coach Carrie Eighmey said to open her weekly press conference. “She has a torn ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season.”
Losing Butera for the rest of the season will be a huge blow for the Vandals as she was an anchor on the defensive side of the ball. She averaged 8.2 rebounds and one block per game, which puts her third and fifth in the Big Sky.
“Sarah Brans, in the last three games, has really stepped up her game, and we’ve challenged her to be able to fill some of that hole that is left with Hope not being available,” Eighmey said. “They’re very different players, but Sarah has done a phenomenal job defensively, in the post, she’s battled on the boards. Offensively, she stretches the floor to the three-point line, (and) she’s got the ability to score around the rim.”
Although Butera has been one of the main names for the Vandals, and her absence was a point of emphasis at Monday’s press conference, there are other players who have been huge on defense.
Junior guards Kennedy Johnson and Ashlyn Wallace are both in the top 15 in steals per game in the Big Sky. Johnson is fifth with 1.6 while Wallace sits at 15th with 1.4. Graduate student guards Amalie Langer and Sarah Schmitt also join them in the top 25 with 1.3 and 1.2 steals per game respectively. That places them at 20th and 22nd. Johnson is also 10th in the conference in blocks per game with 0.8.
This defense is going to be huge on both Thursday and Saturday as NAU and UNC are some of the best offenses in the Big Sky. The Lumberjacks sit atop the conference, putting up 78.6 points per game. Northern Colorado doesn’t sit too far behind in fourth with 69.1 ppg.
While the Lumberjacks hold the highest scoring offense in the Big Sky, their 74.5 points allowed per game put their defense in last place. Meanwhile, Idaho’s 55.9 points allowed place the defense in second and UNC’s 62.8 points allowed make them fifth.
On top of the great offensive and defensive matchups that Big Sky basketball fans could see in these two games, there’s a little bit more to the game against UNC than meets the eye.
“I have quite a bit of familiarity with Northern Colorado’s staff, and also, Hannah Simental, I coached her sister at Nebraska-Kearney,” Eighmey said. “Kristen (Mattio) does a great job. She’s done a phenomenal job of building that program, and now they have some continuity.”
The Vandals will kick off their road trip against NAU on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. before heading to Greeley, Colo, on Saturday, Jan. 27, to take on UNC at 1 p.m.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on X @jamesaldrich25