The court was the same size as always. But for the Idaho Vandals women’s basketball team, the lights were brighter, and the moment was bigger with the nation’s eyes on them.
This was the biggest stage in college basketball and for a lot of these players, a childhood dream came true to play in the NCAA tournament.
As they stepped onto the court with the (25-7) Oklahoma Sooners they fought to the end, but the Sooners’ electric offense and stout defensive effort was too much and defeated the Vandals 89-59, ending Idaho’s incredible 18 game winning streak and their spectacular season at (29-6).
“I’ve been on so many basketball teams in my life and this team is just so special. I love each and every single one of these girls, especially the seniors,” junior guard Hope Hassmann said at the postgame press conference. “That’s why we are all just sad in the locker room. We were going to put up a fight no matter what, and obviously we’re all so competitive and wanted to win. At the end of the day, we’re going to have to say bye to the people who made such an impact on our team.”
One of those seven seniors, Washington State transfer Kyra Gardner, dazzled all season and in her final college game gave one more performance to remember.
Gardner got the Vandals on the board and was at the forefront of the Vandals’ offense all night, finishing with 19 points and four rebounds on 7-20 shooting from the field and connecting on three of her 14 attempts from the three point line, one of two Vandals in double figures along with Hassmann, who finished with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists.
Idaho was keeping pace and trading blows with the Sooners. Redshirt senior forward Debora dos Santos laced a three pointer from the top of the key and gave the Vandals an 11-9 lead that would be their last. Oklahoma started to show their firepower shortly after.
The Sooners went to the paint often, outscoring the Vandals 38-14 in that area, most of that due to a strong performance from senior forward Reagan Beers who led them with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Beers used her physicality on both ends and made it difficult for the Vandals to get anything in the paint. Despite dos Santos’ early spark, she and fellow post player Lorena Barbosa struggled to match Beers and the other Oklahoma post players inside, which forced Idaho to shoot from beyond the arc, something they didn’t do well.
AP Freshman of the Year and no. 1 recruit in the nation Ayliah Chavez dazzled in her first career NCAA Tournament game, finishing with 15 points, five rebounds and six assists. Junior Sahara Williams, who exploded for 17 points and 10 rebounds, had the Sooners pushing on the gas pedal and the Vandals couldn’t get out of reverse till Gardner gave them some life.
Gardner caught the ball with the time ticking down in the quarter and let it fly, the ball swishing through the net as the clock expired. The Sooners took a 27-19 lead into the second quarter.
Oklahoma came in as the third highest scoring team in the country at 86.7 points per game and statistically the fastest offense in the country, and they revved their engines and never let their foot off the gas.
Williams got the Sooners back up by 10, then redshirt senior guard Payton Verhulst ended the run with a flare. The Sooners raced up the floor finding Verhulst in stride. She set her feet and swished a long three pointer to electrify the home crowd and put the Vandals down 15.
Oklahoma outscored the Vandals 30-16 in the quarter, pushing their lead to as much as 23 and taking a 57-35 lead into the locker room.
“They are good everywhere. The pace they run their actions is incredible,” head coach Arthur Moreira said. “We like to play fast but that was a whole different ballgame, they’re fast. We tried to kind of keep up with them in the beginning. Until the first media timeout it was looking okay, then they just took over.”
The Vandals finished the half shooting 12-47 from the field and 6-26 from three and were struggling to find any offense. That trend continued as Oklahoma roared to a 19-3 third quarter and were cruising 76-38 with one quarter to go.
Idaho showed some grit in the fourth quarter as Gardner laced back-to-back three pointers and Hassmann got two layups to fall, and despite outscoring the Sooners 21-13, the Vandals’ magical season came to an end.
“I’m really proud of our group, the season that we had and how hard these girls battle,” Moreira said. “They’re just a joy to work with every single day. I don’t think this game takes it away from us. With that said, we knew it was going to be an uphill battle. It’s almost those types of games you have to play perfect to pull off an upset, and we fell a little short.”
Idaho ended the season accomplishing the most wins in a single season (29), the longest winning streak in program history (18), the most conference wins in a season (17), a regular season, Big Sky championship, and snapped a 10-year NCAA Tournament drought.
This team defied the odds from the beginning and through the ups and downs of a season became a team that will be remembered forever in Vandal history, setting a standard for what Idaho basketball will look like in the future under Moreira.