Over five years of college basketball, redshirt senior Debora dos Santos has battled injuries throughout and hasn’t been able to fully showcase what she can do. However, this past Saturday, dos Santos reached the 1,000-point milestone.
Late in the third quarter, the Vandals held a nine-point lead but the Weber State Wildcats were surging.
Sophomore guard Ana Beatriz Passos Alves da Silva grabbed a rebound and raced toward the Vandals basket. Da Silva found Gardner, who then found dos Santos in the paint. Dos Santos used her underrated speed and got a step on the Weber defender as she used her left hand to scoop in the layup that got her to 1,000 points.
“I thank God all the time for everything I’m being able to do,” dos Santos said. “I feel happy. My whole college career has been sometimes kind of frustrating because of injuries, so me being able to finally get this 1,000 mark, I’m happy about that.”
Dos Santos was very efficient against Weber State and finished the game with 12 points and 12 rebounds, her second straight double-double.
Against Idaho State last Thursday, dos Santos was a dominant force and helped the Vandals with 12 points and 10 rebounds get the hard-earned victory.
Her two double-doubles were good enough to have dos Santos be named Big Sky Player of the Week, her first this season.
Dos Santos, a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, began her college career at South Plains College and from there she went to the University of San Francisco, where she met head coach Arthur Moreira, who was a coach for USF at the time.
While at San Francisco, dos Santos showed flashes of brilliance. However, injuries held her back from getting to her full potential, and when she entered the transfer portal, she linked up with a familiar face.
Moreira, a native of Brazil as well, built a relationship with dos Santos that carried on and off the court and led to her following Moreira to Idaho.
“She’s such a special kid,” Moreira said. “She always has a smile on her face. She’s the ultimate teammate. She would rather never score a point if we’re going to win every game this season. I guarantee you she’d trade every stat, every rebound, double-double, every accolade if we won a championship. She doesn’t care at all, and she’s super humble. I saw it when I was in San Francisco.”
Dos Santos is an electric post who is an elite scorer and rebounder and has been an instant impact for the Vandals. She has not started a game this season but has been a double-double machine and is averaging 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, including the past two games where she was the difference off the bench.
Idaho has gotten off to an incredible start, going 13-5 (4-1), and looks to be in prime condition to compete for a Big Sky championship and book a spot in March Madness. Dos Santos is key to that quest, and her performance on the court and her leadership off it will be vital to the Vandals’ success down the stretch this season.