In their quest for a regular season championship, the Idaho Vandals were locked in a battle with Northern Colorado. Neither team could find a rhythm offensively, every possession mattered and defense stole the show, something sophomore Ella Uriarte has made her calling card.
With 5:05 remaining and the Vandals on the verge of a title, the Bears were clawing back. Northern Colorado had an out-of-bounds play drawn up to cut the deficit to single digits. Uriarte read the pass, picked the pocket of senior guard Gabi Fields, and raced down the court for a layup that brought ICCU Arena to a roar.
A few minutes later, the buzzer sounded. The Vandals had won the regular season championship. Black and gold confetti fell from the rafters, and Uriarte, in her white and black jersey, stepped up to the ladder and cut a piece of the net. All the hard work of the regular season had paid off.
“It’s an amazing feeling, not many people get to experience that,” Uriarte said. “Our opportunity to win the conference championship is awesome. When you’re doing that with people that you genuinely like and enjoy their time, there’s no truer feeling.”
Uriarte, a native of Folsom, California, grew up around the game. With her dad coaching her brother, she would attend practices and participate in the drills on the side, and that planted the seed.
“It was kind of run out there and have fun when I was really little,” Uriarte said. “It was just a fun sport where I could run and have fun out there with my friends. Now it’s gone to a point where I’m getting to find my role and do what I do best, trying to get better every year and every day.”
Basketball wasn’t always the plan. Until eighth grade, Uriarte played competitive soccer before stepping away to focus on the hardwood. She also tried volleyball and track and field before she got to the Palouse.
“I just enjoyed that more,” Uriarte said. “I thought I could grow more in basketball. The team aspect is super important to me. You don’t have to be your best every day, because you have a team. You build so many friendships, people that are going to be lifelong friends.”
Uriarte isn’t a player who fills up a stat sheet, but she is an elite defender and a winner, the kind of player who makes the right play when it matters most. Those are exactly the traits that drew head coach Arthur Moreira to her coming out of Folsom High School.
“What drew me to her was that she would always be in the game in late game situations,” Moreira said. “When it was close, she’d always be in there, even though she wasn’t the one scoring 30 points or hitting all the crazy shots. She always had the assignment of guarding the other team’s best guard, and whenever they needed to win, she was on the floor.”
At Folsom High, Uriarte was a two-year captain. Her leadership helped drive back-to-back successful seasons and pushed several of her teammates into Division I programs. She wasn’t heavily recruited herself, but after a visit with then-head coach Carrie Eighmey, she stepped on campus and knew.
“I fell in love with the coaches and the players and everything here,” Uriarte said. “The Moscow community is great. Being able to have fans at your games is something that a lot of schools don’t get. It’s a small community, but our restaurants are amazing. Getting to experience the college environment too, and the friendships I’ve made here are amazing.”
Uriarte arrived into a guard-heavy program last season and played a supporting role, appearing in 30 games for 444 minutes while averaging 2.1 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. Already one of the team’s best defenders, she spent the offseason attacking her offensive game.
“Over the spring, I worked really hard to develop my offensive side and become smarter. So, this year, getting the opportunity to start has been amazing. I think still just finding my role in what my team needs me to do each day has been something that I still like to look for,” she said.
The growth has shown. In her sophomore season, Uriarte has started all 32 games, scoring 205 points across 931 minutes, averaging 6.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 50 assists, eight blocks and 24 steals, with a career-high 14 points against Walla Walla.
What she does on the court is impressive, but what she does off of it is what makes Moreira most proud.
“She’s a great teammate and has a lot of respect for the girls,” Moreira said. “She does a really good job, even though she’s a sophomore she has taken on more of a leadership role. She’s a great kid, she’s a great teammate, great culture, she has a fun personality. We’re pretty lucky that she’s here.”
Every time Uriarte steps on the court, it’s a story of the little girl who ran drills on the side of her brother’s practice to the player who has given everything and doesn’t need a stat sheet to prove it. From Folsom to Moscow, Uriarte has been a rising star with a bright future in the black and gold, looking to leave a legacy far beyond the final buzzer.
“I want people to know that I played hard and I played my best every day,” she said. “I really hope that people understand that I enjoy doing it. It’s not just something that I go out there and do.”