They had battled all season for this moment and now, as the buzzer sounded, black and gold confetti rained down from the rafters, the bench exploded onto the court and all the emotions poured out all over the floor. For the first time since 2019, the Idaho Vandals women’s basketball team won at least a share of the Big Sky Conference regular season championship and clinched the no.1 overall seed in the Big Sky tournament.
They came into the season as an unknown and left as regular season champions, cutting down the nets at ICCU Arena after defeating the (21-9, 12-5) Northern Colorado Bears 55-41.
With the ladder out on the floor and the net-cutting ceremony underway, head coach Arthur Moreira stepped up and was overcome with emotion as he hugged athletic director Terry Gawlik, who gave him a chance when many wouldn’t have.
Two years ago, he was an assistant coach with no head coaching experience. Now he is one of the youngest head coaches in the country and a champion in his second year in charge.
“You’re going to get me to cry again, man,” Moreira said tearfully. “The journey here was a lot of gambles. Terry [Gawlik] took a chance on a guy with no head coaching experience. She gave one of the youngest head coaches in the country, who had no idea what he was doing, everything. It just went before my eyes.”
After three brutal quarters, the (25-5, 16-1) Vandals ended the game outscoring the Bears 20-10 in the final quarter and the guard duo of junior guard Hope Hassmann and senior guard Kyra Gardner connected one last time to secure a championship.
Hassmann got the ball in the back court under full court pressure from the Bears, as they had been doing for 40 minutes. Hassmann picked up her head and saw Gardner wide open on the other side of the court. Hassmann threaded a pass across the court, Gardner caught it and laid it up to seal the victory.
“It was so rewarding. We’ve played so hard and worked for this since the summer,” Hassmann said. “I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. I committed to Arthur and Drew exactly for this reason. I came to be a Vandal, to win championships. Nothing more, nothing less. My whole goal, my whole life, was to go to March Madness, and I knew with Drew and Arthur, we can get that done.”
Gardner capped her senior night performance with her sixth double-double in a Vandal uniform, putting up 10 points and 11 rebounds along with two steals.
Gardner was one of seven seniors celebrated before the game. Alongside her were guards Mary McMorris and Anja Bukvic, and forwards Sarah Brans, Lorena Barbosa, Catelyn Deaver and Debora dos Santos.
“We have such a special group. I love each and every one of them,” Hassmann said. “Their work ethic and who they are as a person. This team is like I’ve never been on before, so I’m excited to keep it rolling, but also excited for what we have accomplished so far.”
Hassmann led the Vandals with 12 points, one rebound and six assists and was a crucial 8-for-8 from the free throw line and was a big part in their victory.
On Jan. 10, the Vandals walked out of Bozeman, Montana, after getting blown out 99-66 by Montana State. A loss like that could have defined their season as another average year. But this group didn’t let the Bobcats write their story.
After that day, the Vandals’ season changed. They became more of a team that fought together, worked day after day on the practice court, bringing competition every drill and sat in the film room wanting to never feel the way they did walking off the court that afternoon.
From that game, the Vandals won 14 games in a row, tying the second-longest winning streak in program history. All that work had set them up to lift a championship with Northern Colorado standing in their way.
Through two and a half quarters the game was ugly on both sides, both teams shooting under 30% from the field and 10% from beyond the arc. If the Vandals were going to fulfill their destiny, they would need to fight for it.
The Bears held a slim 31-27 lead with 2:10 left in the third quarter. The Vandals, however, went on an 8-0 run, going 6-for-6 from the free throw line to take a 35-31 lead heading into the final frame.
The Vandals, now 10 minutes away from their goal, showed their championship DNA. In a game where nothing was working on the offensive end, they turned to their defense, which came through in a big way.
The Vandals forced 23 turnovers, six in the fourth quarter, and scored 20 points off those turnovers, including two huge possessions in the final frame.
On the first, with the Vandals up 37-31 early in the quarter, sophomore guard Ana Pinheiro didn’t give up on a missed shot, pressed the Bears’ ball handler, reached in to poke the ball free and raced to the rim, where she was fouled and knocked down two free throws to extend the lead.
Pinheiro was relentless all over the floor, finishing with 11 points, two rebounds and two steals. Dos Santos added eight points and 11 rebounds and was a huge factor in the win.
“I’m really happy,” dos Santos said. “Coach says some people come to college and they can’t have that experience. I’m definitely happy we could today.”
Then, with 5:05 on the clock, sophomore guard Ella Uriarte swiped an inbound pass and raced untouched to the rim for a layup to put the Vandals up 12. From there, Idaho never looked back.
When the Vandals got on the court in the summer they were a new team, five transfers, three freshmen and just one returning starter.
No one knew what this Vandals squad would look like. Together they proved who they had the potential to be special from the first game, when they walked into the Beasley Coliseum and defeated Washington State, to now winning 14 straight games and cutting down the nets at ICCU Arena.
The Vandals are not done, with one more regular season game remaining before they head to Boise for a chance at the Big Sky tournament championship next weekend.
Idaho will end the regular season hosting the Eastern Washington Eagles (14-16, 7-10) on Monday, March 2, at 6 p.m. With a win, the Vandals would win the outright regular season championship.
“It just gives us even more motivation,” Hassmann said. “We won the regular season, meaning we beat everyone in this league. But we still need to play with that chip on our shoulder every game. We still need to consider ourselves the underdogs and go into every game strong. I’m looking forward to it. These girls, we’re going to prepare really hard and get out there and do what we can do.”
The team that stepped onto Beasley Coliseum almost four months ago with potential to be a threat in the Big Sky took their chapter into their own hands. For a team that was picked no higher than third in the media poll, they have played together as a team every second they are on the floor wearing Idaho across their jersey.
Fighting for a common goal, a chance to live out every athlete’s dream to win a conference championship, lift another trophy and walk onto the floor on basketball’s biggest stage.