FARMINGTON, Utah – Idaho women's basketball was picked to finish first by the coaches and the media in the annual Big Sky Preseason Polls.
"I think it certainly is a show of respect for our program," said Head Coach
Jon Newlee. "These polls I think are always a reflection of how last year went and who you lost. We lost a couple of really great seniors, but I think we have also gained some great new players as well. It's going to be my challenge to put that altogether and have a great year like we had last year."
Idaho earned the sweep in both polls, garnering 221 points in the media poll and 91 in the coaches' poll.
The Vandals were tied with Idaho State in the coaches' poll at 91 points, but the Vandals earned four first place votes while Idaho State earned just two.
Last year's Vandals punched a ticket to the Big Sky Championship game to face Montana State, but were unable to play the game due to COVID-19. Idaho finished the season 22-9 and 15-5 in the Big Sky while finishing the season on a seven-game win streak.
The Vandals are led by a talented group of returners, including preseason All-Big Sky selections
Gina Marxen and
Beyonce Bea.
Natalie Klinker joins the duo as the leading rebounder from a year ago and averaged 11 points and 9.6 rebounds per game over the final six games of the season.
A big reason for the success in 2019-20 was defense. Idaho finished as the number one defensive team in the Big Sky Conference, allowing just 58.8 points per game last season. In addition, Idaho took care of the ball averaging just 11.4 turnovers per game, a conference best.
Following the 2019-20 season the Vandals graduated two seniors in
Lizzy Klinker and
Isabelle Hadden. The duo each played in all 31 games a year ago, averaging 29.8 and 12.8 minutes per game, respectively.
Head Coach
Jon Newlee and his staff reloaded the Vandals roster in the offseason adding in two transfers and two freshmen. The Vandals brought in graduate transfer
Gabi Harrington who spent the last four years at the University of Montana, playing in 89 games, to go along with
Rylee Alexander a transfer from Pratt Community College.
Along with the transfers Idaho welcomes to highly touted freshmen in
Sydney Gandy and
Paris Atchley. Gandy, from Orangewood Academy in California, was named the CIF Division 2AA Player of the Year last year. Atchley, from La Jolla Country Day School in California, was part of the No. 1 high school team in the country with a 32-1 record. La Jolla was named the 2019-20 National Champion by Maxpreps.com.
"It will give the team confidence knowing people respect them, but again that respect will have to be earned," said Newlee. "This is a new team. We haven't done anything yet and that's going to be my message to them. We must continue and focus on getting better every day and not worry about the end goal right now. Our goal is to get better every day. I think if we can continue to improve and do the things we are doing so far then we have a chance to be good, but we have to go out and prove it just like every other team in our league, and our league is fantastic. It's so talented up and down. Every night is going to be a war and we have to be ready for it."
The Vandals begin Big Sky Conference play on Dec. 3 against Sacramento State. Idaho's non-conference schedule is to be announced.
Ticket information will be available at a later date.
Stay up to date with Idaho Women's Basketball at GoVandals.com or on twitter @vandalswbb
| 2020-21 Big Sky Women's Basketball Media Poll |
| Teams |
|
Points |
| Idaho |
(16) |
221 |
| Idaho State |
(2) |
206 |
| Northern Arizona |
|
180 |
| Montana State |
(2) |
173 |
| Northern Colorado |
(1) |
135 |
| Portland State |
|
127 |
| Montana |
|
122 |
| Southern Utah |
|
73 |
| Eastern Washington |
|
65 |
| Sacramento State |
|
54 |
| Weber State |
|
29 |
| 2020-21 Big Sky Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll |
| Teams |
|
Points |
| Idaho |
(4) |
91 |
| Idaho State |
(2) |
91 |
| Northern Arizona |
(3) |
80 |
| Montana State |
(1) |
77 |
| Northern Colorado |
(1) |
64 |
| Montana |
|
53 |
| Portland State |
|
50 |
| Southern Utah |
|
36 |
| Sacramento State |
|
26 |
| Eastern Washington |
|
23 |
| Weber State |
|
14 |
Head Coach Jon Newlee
