It had come down to one final possession to decide the Big Sky championship. Montana State swung around to senior guard Ella Johnson, who launched it toward the rim.
As the ball went up in the air it came back right to her as redshirt senior Lorena Barbosa blocked the shot with under two seconds left, to give the Vandals the Big Sky crown and secure their spot in March Madness.
The Idaho Vandals women’s basketball team had one goal when this season began: get to March Madness. After a 60-57 dramatic victory over Montana State Wednesday, they accomplished it, punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament for the fifth time in program history and the first time since 2016. the women will join the 68-team field in the NCAA tournament.
“So many emotions. I was so happy to be a part of this team,” junior guard Hope Hassmann said at the post-game press conference. “I love each one of the girls. We have such a special bond. We just all love each other so much and want to do everything together. I feel like that was the motto of the game. At times when we couldn’t score, we just knew we had to come together and get stops, and that was kind of the name of the game. I couldn’t be more proud of everyone. We couldn’t do it without any of the staff or the girls.”
The Vandals and Bobcats were on a collision course all season, meeting twice in the regular season with each team winning on their home court. Montana State defeated Idaho 99-66 in Bozeman, then a few weeks later the Vandals won 73-70 in overtime at the ICCU Arena.
After that game, Montana State rattled off nine wins in a row and secured the second seed in the tournament. The defending Big Sky champions had momentum and experience on their side.
The Vandals opened the season with an 87-85 victory over Washington State, a team full of potential with a goal in mind. After the Jan. 10 loss in Bozeman, they never lost again, winning a program-record 29 games along with 18 straight victories. After two hard-fought wins in Boise, they had their chance to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament.
Both teams came out ready to play and the lead changed back and forth early. Sophomore guard and Big Sky Player of the Year Taylee Chirrick settled the Bobcats in with two three-pointers, but the Vandals went on a 6-0 run to close the first quarter. Chirrick led the Bobcats with 12 points.
A layup by Hassmann ended the quarter with Idaho leading 18-13. Hassmann had seven first-quarter points and gave the Vandals momentum going into the second.
They carried that and stretched their lead to 10 after a three-pointer by sophomore guard Ana Beatriz Passos Alves da Silva who led the Vandals with 12 points. The game continued to sway back and forth, and Idaho took a 36-31 lead into halftime.
The Vandals answered every Montana State counter-punch and after three quarters led 55-43 with 10 minutes until a trophy.
But the Bobcats climbed back in. With under a minute left, Johnson drilled a three-pointer to cut the deficit to one. Hassmann, named tournament MVP, stretched the lead back to three, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists, and then the defense did the rest.
When the buzzer sounded, the team exploded onto the court, confetti rained down and Idaho had reached its goal.
Redshirt senior forward Debora dos Santos was instrumental off the bench, as she has been all season, finishing with nine points and 10 rebounds. Dos Santos came to Idaho from the University of San Francisco after battling injury trouble and has been the backbone of the Vandals all year. Her journey brought her to March Madness.
“I’m proud of everybody. Everybody decided to make some sacrifice to come here. Since the beginning, we had this goal. We stayed focused until the end, we got those two trophies, we got it done. I’m happy for everything,” dos Santos said.
When Arthur Moreira took over as head coach two years ago, he had just two returning players and a team still searching for its way. Moreira and his staff landed a class that set the foundation of this team, and from there they have broken every barrier, every record and are now living a basketball player’s dream of playing in the NCAA tournament.
“I’m really proud of these girls. It’s been a lot of work. They put their heads down and a lot of people decided to take a chance on us. This doesn’t happen because of one person or two or three. It takes the whole team, the entire roster, all of our staff. This is the people’s trophy right here. It’s not just for our program. It’s not just for us,” Moreira said.
With the job done, the Vandals now await their NCAA tournament destination. They will find out their first-round opponent on Sunday, March 15, at 5 p.m.
“I don’t care where we play. I’m just excited to go compete,” Hassmann said. “We’re just going to go out there and give it a roll, no matter who we play at the highest level. I feel like we can step out there and compete and play hard.”