THE MATCHUP
Idaho renews the long-standing Battle of the Palouse with Washington State, Sunday in Pullman. The Vandals are 0-1 on the season while WSU is 1-1 on the year. Idaho fell in its season opener at BYU while WSU topped EWU 83-82 in its season opener before falling to Stanford 94-65 on the road Thursday. The two teams meet for the 42nd time in a series that dates back to 1970. 

ABOUT IDAHO
Idaho started slow at BYU, but battled back to tie the game in Provo before the Cougars pulled away in the final minutes to earn a 67-62 win over the Vandals. Idaho might have lost, but there are positive signs for the Vandals in the loss. Idaho outrebounded BYU 41-38, they also earned 24 free throw opportunities. Sophomore Hope Hassmann scored a game-high 23 points, including 5-10 (50%) from the three-point line. Jennifer Aadland had a team-high 11 rebounds and two blocks. 

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
The Cougars are  led by Eleonora  Villa who is averaging 19 points per game and Tara Wallack who is scoring 17 PPG. The Cougars are averaging 74 PPG as a team, but are giving up 88 PPG as a team, in large part because of a tough Stanford opponent. WSU is coming off a WBIT season in 2023-24, including a 2-0 record against Big Sky schools. Kamie Ethridge signed a contract extension in the off season. 

GRADUATE TRANSFERS
Three Vandals; Olivia Nelson, Rosie Schweizer and Jennifer Aadland bring extensive experience into the fray for Idaho. 

Nelson has started in every game during her four year career at Central Missouri (117). Jennifer Aadland has 98 starts in 99 career games for Augustana (S.D.) The two met early last season with Central Missouri coming out on top. Aadland scored 16 points while Nelson scored a career-high 29. 

Schweizer has 93 games under her belt, including six starts for West Coast Conference team Pacific. 

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM TRANSFERS
Kelbie Washington and Hope Hassmann both earned All-Freshman Team honors for their respective teams. Hassmann played and started all 31 games for Fullerton last season, scoring 302 points and dishing out 87 assists. 

Washington was a All-Big 12 honoree at Oklahoma and earned National Freshman of the Week honors. She missed the last two seasons with an illness. 

INTERNATIONAL IMPACT
Five players on this year's roster are international, including two from Brazil, home of head coach Arthur Moreira and one from Portugal, who shares the Portuguese language with Brazil. 

Vitória Carvalho and Ana Beatriz Passos hail from Brazil. Ana Pinheiro is from Portugal. Anja Bukvic from Belgrade Serbia and Rosie Schweizer is from Australia. 

ICCU ARENA
The Vandals enter the fourth season of play at the amazing ICCU Arena in Moscow. The $51 million arena sits just over 4,200 fans and includes the latest technology for fan and student-athlete experience. The Vandals are 18-18 in the first three seasons in the new Arena. 

COACHING STAFF
First-Year Head Coach Arthur Moreira compiled a coaching staff of former co-workers, opponents and trusted recruiters. 

His first move was to retain and promote Drew Muscatell. Muscatell was promoted to Associate Head Coach during the offseason. He enters his seventh season as an assistant for the Vandals and has worked for three different head coaches. 

Moreira added former Montana Assistant Coach Lindsey Foster to his staff. Foster was a coach at Montana for one season, before that, she was the head coach at DII Academy of Art in San Francisco. 

Derek Saich served as the Director of Operations and Assistant Coach at Moreira's former school San Francisco. The two worked together for two seasons at USF. 

The final assistant is Denise Rosario, an experienced junior college coach from South Plains Junior College in Texas. She has extensive international recruiting connections, hailing from Minas Gerais, Brazil. 

NET HISTORY
During the 2020-21 season, women's basketball introduced daily NET rankings for Division I. In that season, the Vandals reached their highest ranking of 126 on 3/11/21. They finished with an overall ranking of 133, improving 86 spots compared to their starting position of 219.

In the past two seasons, Idaho struggled in the rankings unable to surpass the 200 mark. The highest ranking in 2021-22 was 202 (2/5/22) and the highest in 2022-23 was 205 (3/5/23). 

In 2023-24, Idaho had its highest start at 167 and kept climbing. On 1/10/24, the Vandals ranked at 125, breaking the program record. 

STARTING WITH COUGS
Idaho opens the season with a pair of Cougars. The Vandals open the year with a game against BYU on Nov. 6, before traveling to Washington State on Nov. 10. Both teams participated in the inaugural WBIT. The two games are the first of five road games in the month of November for Idaho. 

PRESEASON BIG SKY POLLS
The Vandals were picked eighth in the Big Sky Coaches Poll and seventh in the Big Sky Media Poll. No Idaho players were named to the Big Sky Preseason All-Conference Team. Northern Arizona was picked to win the league in both polls. 

Idaho was picked in the same spot a season ago and finished sixth in the league. 

LONGTIME RIVALS
Idaho and Washington State have met 41 times in history, beginning in 1970. WSU leads the series 28-13 dating back to their first meeting on Dec. 30, 1970. WSU has won each of their last four meetings against each other, and 16 of their last 21.

NEWCOMER IMPACT 
All five starters in game one were newcomers for the Vandals. Of Idaho's 62 points, 58 came from players who were not on the roster a year ago. Hope Hassmann was huge for the Vandals, leading the way with 23 points.

Ten players saw their first action as Vandals.