In every race, the final stretch can be the toughest, and for the Idaho Vandals women’s basketball team, this one comes with a regular season championship on the line.
The Vandals (23-5, 14-1) have won 12 games in a row, gone 12-1 inside of ICCU Arena and are on the cusp of winning their first regular season championship since 2019. Three games remain, one on the road and the final two at home.
Idaho will hit the road for the final time this regular season and match up with the (10-18, 6-9) Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in Flagstaff on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 5 p.m. Then the Vandals will make the long flight home and prepare to take on the (20-8, 11-4) Northern Colorado Bears, the third best team in the conference, at ICCU Arena on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 3:30 p.m.
Northern Arizona
The Lumberjacks came to Moscow on Jan. 31 and fell 94-71. Northern Arizona is in the middle of a rebuild with first-year coach Laura Dinkins reassembling the program after longtime head coach Loree Payne departed for another job. Despite a rough season the Lumberjacks have plenty of talent, starting with redshirt guard Naomi White.
The Grand Canyon transfer is the conference’s leading scorer at 21.3 points per game and shoots 40% from both the field and three-point range. She had a rough time in Moscow, scoring just nine points on 4-12 shooting, and will be looking to put on a much better showing in front of her home crowd.
Sophomore guard Madison Watts has been a reliable second option, averaging 10.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game and put up 20 points in the first meeting between these two teams.
Idaho is thriving in year two under head coach Arthur Moreira, averaging a league-best 79 points per game as one of the most balanced and deepest teams in the conference. Junior guard Hope Hassmann leads the way averaging 14.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.25 assists per game while ranking second in the conference with 119 assists.
Senior guard Kyra Gardner, a transfer from Washington State, has been the backcourt partner the Vandals needed, averaging 13.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while leading the team with 72 steals at 2.5 per game.
Up front, redshirt senior forwards Lorena Barbosa and Debora dos Santos have been a one-two punch down low that no team has been able to stop. Barbosa averages 12 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while dos Santos off the bench contributes 11.7 points and 7.7 rebounds. The Vandals are also the best rebounding team in the conference, averaging 47 rebounds per game.
Northern Colorado
The Bears have been the surprise of the Big Sky this season, rising up the rankings and building momentum as they look ahead to Boise and the conference tournament. In their first meeting in Greeley, the Vandals edged out a 62-55 win in a physical, defense-first contest where both teams excelled and the intensity was unmatched.
Northern Colorado is led by sophomore guards Neenah George and Heather Baymon, who average 13 and 12.1 points per game respectively, with their inside game anchored by junior forward Tatum West and senior Aniah Hall. The Bears come in balanced, hungry and a tough out, and the Vandals will need to rely on their defense, rebounding and high-powered offense to get the victory.
Sophomore guard Ana Pinheiro has been leading the Vandals’ defensive charge, and what started as a weakness has tightened up considerably. Over the last month, the team has been playing the best defense of the season.
With their first regular season title since 2019 within reach, the Vandals must continue to play Vandal basketball, focus one game at a time, and take care of business to get to where they want to go and reaching their ultimate goal of a Big Sky championship.
“We have so much fire still left in us,” Hassmann said. “This is only the beginning. We have three games, one on the road, and then ending with two at home is really awesome. Finishing conference with the bang would be really cool, we have so much momentum and I feel that’s going to carry us into Boise.”