MOSCOW, Idaho - Idaho welcomes back Walla Walla University Wednesday in Moscow. The Vandals are 0-2 on the season while The Wolves are 1-1 on the season. Idaho fell to WSU Sunday afternoon, while Walla Walla fell to Eastern Washington on the road Saturday. The two teams meet for the 2nd time in a series that dates back to 2021. The game is a regular-season game for Idaho, but an exhibition game for Walla Walla.
ABOUT IDAHO
Idaho started slow at WSU, but battled back to exchange the lead six times before the Cougars pulled away in the final quarter to earn a 71-60 win over the Vandals. Idaho might have lost, but there are positive signs for the Vandals in the loss. Idaho outrebounded WSU 52-36.
Rosie Schweizer scored a career-high 23 points and tied her career high with 13 rebounds.
Jennifer Aadland had a career-high 18 rebounds.
ABOUT WALLA WALLA
The Wolves are led by Chariah Daniels who is averaging 11 points per game and Jordan Green-Wallace and Natalee Trevino who are scoring 9.6 PPG. The Wolves are averaging 51 PPG as a team, but are giving up 66 PPG as a team. Walla Walla is 1-1 this season and fell to Big Sky school Eastern Washington University in their exhibition game November 9.
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.
REBOUND LEADERS
After playing a pair of tough, long power-five level teams, you would think that Idaho would have been dominated on the boards, but the Vandals have outrebounded both opponents, including a 52-36 advantage over Washington State.
Jennifer Aadland has led the way, averaging 14.5 rebounds per game, including 18 rebounds against Washington State.
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.
HISTORY
Idaho and Walla Walla met for the first time during the 2023-2024 season, securing another opponent within the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The Vandals defeated the Wolves 92-50 at their last meeting, but Walla Walla currently maintains a 1-1 record to Idaho's 0-2.
NEWCOMER IMPACT
All five starters in game two were newcomers for the Vandals. Of Idaho's 60 points, 58 came from players who were not on the roster a year ago.
Rosie Schweizer was huge for the Vandals, leading the way with 23 points and 13 rebounds.
