MOSCOW, Idaho - Idaho heads to Cedar City, Utah for a match up against Southern Utah University. The Vandals are 1-2 on the season while The Thunderbirds are 0-3 on the season. Idaho defeated Walla Walla University on Wednesday, while Southern Utah fell to Fresno State University on the road. The two teams meet for the first time since 2022 in a series that dates back to 1990.
ABOUT IDAHO
Idaho started slow against Walla Walla, but a three-pointer by
Hope Hassmann put Idaho up 20-17 and the Vandals would never trail again. Four Vandals scored in double figures and
Jennifer Aadland scored the first double-double of her Vandal career to lead Idaho women's basketball to a 76-51 win over Walla Walla, the first career victory for head coach
Arthur Moreira.
ABOUT SOUTHERN UTAH
The Thunderbirds are led by Daylani Ballena, who is averaging 10 points per game and former Vandal Sydney Gandy who is averaging 9 PPG. The Thunderbirds are averaging 56 PPG as a team, but are giving up 83 PPG. Southern Utah is 0-3 this season and fell Fresno State Wednesday 67-59.
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 19-19 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 13 rebounds per game, including 18 renounds 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.
FORMER BIG SKY FOES
Idaho and Southern Utah met for the first time during the 1990-1991 season. The Vandals defeated the Thunderbirds 77-64 at their last meeting. Idaho currently maintains a 1-2 record to Southern Utah's 0-3.
NEWCOMER IMPACT
All five starters in game three were newcomers for the Vandals. Of Idaho's 76 points, 59 came from players who were not on the roster a year ago. The best overall game came from
Jennifer Aadland who tallied 12 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, four steals and two blocks in the game.
NATIONS LEADING REBOUNDER
Jennifer Aadland leads the nation in defensive rebounds and is fifth in rebounds per game. She had a career-high 18 rebounds against WSU and has been in double figures during all three games.
