The Idaho Vandals women’s basketball team emerged from halftime with a 12-point lead and wanted to put the game away versus the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. Idaho’s potent offensive attack and lethal defense was too much for the Lumberjacks to overcome. Idaho outscored NAU 32-19 in the third quarter and breezed their way to a 94-71 victory and their sixth win in a row.
“Great effort by our team,” head coach Arthur Moreira said. “We have been able to put together some pretty good games in the last six and our team is still growing. I feel like every game we play, we’re getting better, and we find different ways to win.”
Idaho was efficient on both ends finishing the game shooting 49% from the field connecting on 7-21 from beyond the arc and had 58 bench points to go along with 45 rebounds.
Junior guard Hope Hassmann led the Vandals from the outside with 20 points, five rebounds and six assists. She went 7-12 from the field and knocked down three of her four attempts from three-point range.
Redshirt senior Debora dos Santos was on the receiving end of a number of those assists as the Vandals sparked down in the paint, finishing with 18 points and four rebounds, while going an efficient 8-11 from the field.
Dos santos, who eclipsed 1,000 points earlier this season, was playing with extra motivation in front of her family from Brazil who was in ICCU Arena for the first time this season to watch her play.
“I’m always happy when they come,” dos Santos said. “It is good when you play good and your family’s here. They always watch me online, but having them here is, of course, special, I feel even more happy.”
Redshirt senior Lorena Barbosa was also a huge presence drawing a lot of fouls and creating havoc for the NAU post players. Barbosa finished with 15 points going 7-8 from the free throw line.
On the defensive end, Idaho was active and used their length and full court pressure at times to knock the Lumberjacks out of their rhythm offensively. The Vandals forced 20 turnovers, 12 steals and scored 25 points off turnovers.
Senior guard Kyra Gardner led the way defensively with five steals to go along with her 13 points and seven rebounds.
The (17-5, 8-1) Vandals came in riding a five-game win streak and had to face one of the best scorers in the conference in redshirt freshman Naomi White, who was averaging 22.5 points per game coming into the contest.
That assignment went to sophomore guard duo Ana Pinheiro and Ella Uriarte who held White to nine points, 4-12 from the field and 0-2 from three-point range. The duo has been the Vandals heart of the defense, their ability to take away the opposing team’s best players has been a huge key to the Vandals success this season.
With White neutralized, Northern Arizona relied on sophomore Madison Watts who led the team with 20 points and six rebounds.
From the tip, Idaho attacked the Lumberjacks and behind Barbosa and Hassmann, they were putting the Lumberjacks on their heels.
With the clock ticking down, Hassmann took the inbounds pass, dribbled into the lane, put up the layup through contact, got the layup to fall and then made the free throw to give her a team leading seven points in the first quarter to take a 24-16 lead.
Idaho had put up 24 points despite going 0-6 from three that changed early in the second quarter. After dos Santos got back-to-back layups to fall, Idaho had begun to pull away.
Northern Arizona, desperate to get back in the game, threw a pass deep in the paint that was deflected and stolen by Gardner. She raced up the floor, found Hassmann open on the wing and laced the first three-pointer of the game.
Hassmann has been playing her best basketball in the last four games, having scored 20+ points in two of the four and has led the Vandals in scoring all four. Hassmann’s confidence in herself and teammates has only grown since the season began.
“It’s just confidence. I have my shot ready to knock it down and then next play,” Hassmann said. “If it’s my turn to go make a big play for my other teammate and get them the ball in the down low. “That’s really important, having confidence while we’re all knocking it down and it’s my turn, but also being ready to assist.”
Idaho used the first half’s efficiency and turned it up a notch behind their tight defense and rolling offense. They put the score out of reach and took a 77-51 lead into the fourth quarter before cruising to the final buzzer.
The Vandals now get the highly anticipated rematch with the no. 1 seed, (16-5, 9-1) Montana State Bobcats, who defeated the Vandals 99-66 in Bozeman on Jan. 10. The Vandals and Bobcats will tip off from ICCU Arena on Thursday, Feb. 5, at 6 p.m.