From tip-off, Idaho Central Credit Union Arena was louder than it had been all season. However, as the ball left redshirt freshman guard Alana Shetlar’s hand, the raucous gym froze and fell into silence. As the ball whizzed through the air, it found the backboard and fell into the basket, putting the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles up by one point with under a minute left.
After having a ten-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Vandals needed a basket to keep their six-game winning streak and undefeated home record intact. They were unable to do that after a couple of costly turnovers and outstanding play from Oral Roberts’ three-headed monster.
Sophomore guard Anna Trusty, redshirt senior guard Jalei Oglesby and freshman forward Kayten Donley combined for 63 Golden Eagles points, propelling them to outscore the Vandals 36-23 in the final frame and take a 92-89 thriller. The loss snapped the Vandals’ winning streak, dropping them to 7-2 on the season.
“In the fourth quarter, they were better at our game than we were,” head coach Arthur Moreira said. “For three quarters we were playing faster and dominated the glass. But then in the fourth quarter, when it’s a tight game, one or two points, they made more plays than we did.”
With over 2,000 elementary students filling the arena for education day at ICCU Arena, the deafening screams and energy brought by the kids and fans in attendance carried the Vandals through a first half where they struggled shooting the ball from beyond the arc finishing just 3-20.
The Vandals held a two-point lead until senior guard Kyra Gardner capped off her 15-point first half with a 5-0 run to give the Vandals a 43-38 lead heading into the locker room.
When the shots weren’t falling on the outside, their inside game was the driving force of the Vandals’ offense. They finished with 64 points in the paint, including a season high 22 points from redshirt senior forward Debora dos Santos. Dos Santos was also huge in the rebounding department, grabbing 15 rebounds and helping the Vandals dominate on the glass.
Dos Santos, who has been recovering from an injury, has shown flashes of the player she could be for the Vandals later down the road.
“She’s only scratching the surface. She’s still, trying to limit her, protect her and make sure we have her for when it matters in conference play,” Moreira said. “I think she can be the best player in the conference. She’s so good inside, she’s the best rebounder I’ve ever coached.”
The teams emerged from their locker rooms, and behind the crowd, the Vandals came out hot. Behind strong performance from Dos Santos who had six early points in the quarter stretched its lead to 14, their largest of the game.
The Golden Eagles never backed down. Behind Trusty, Oglesby and Donley, they cut the Vandals’ lead to 66 to 56 heading into the final frame.
Oral Roberts turned on the pressure and began to speed up their tempo on offense, battling toe to toe with Idaho. The Vandals held a slim six-point lead until Trusty made back to back layups. A fast break layup by Shetlar gave the Golden Eagles the lead with under five minutes to go.
From there it went back and forth, with both teams making play after play down the stretch. A quick 4-0 run had Idaho back in lead 87-85, forcing a timeout.
The timeout regrouped Oral Roberts, and they nailed Shetlar’s three-pointer that gave them the 88-87 lead and finished off the game from there with their stellar free-throw shooting, going 21-22 on the day.
The Vandals had four players score in double figures. Gardner, who had a strong first half, finished with 17 points. Hassmann added 16 and Barbosa contributed 10.
Idaho hasn’t been in very many close games so far and was 2-0 in them before this game. Despite the loss, Moreira sees this as a learning experience and something they can build on moving forward.
“It’s super important for us,” Moreira said. “It’s good to learn from losing as well. You know, some things that we needed to do to execute a little better. I told the team we’re not going to win the conference in November; we’re going to win it in March. Every single game that we play, every day that goes by, we have to learn from our mistakes. I’m not upset about the effort. Obviously, I want to win every game, but I told them, we’re going to have a real problem if we don’t learn from this.”
The Vandals look to rebound when they head to Colorado to take on the University of Denver in the second game of the Big Sky Summit League challenge.
“We need to be pissed off we need to be upset about how we played, and use that to motivate us and fuel us to play against Denver and then take it out on them,” Moreira said. “Everything is a learning opportunity. That was a good learning experience for us. We’re just going to continue to get better.”
Idaho will tip off with Denver on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 11 a.m.