MOSCOW, Idaho - Idaho split the opening weekend trip to Montana, winning in Missoula for the first time since 2018. Sacramento State started Big Sky play with just one game, a 76-74 road win over Portland State. The two teams each have wins over Mountain West schools, but Sacramento State is just 3-5 outside of the their home court. 

ABOUT IDAHO
Idaho dominated the second half to pick up the 63-50 win over Montana in Missoula.   Hope Hassman led the way with 20 pints and three assists. On the season, three Vandals average double figures, led by Hope Hassmann who is averaging 13.0 PPG. Jennifer Aadland is one of the nation's best rebounders at 10.2 rpg. First-year head coach Arthur Moriera ended non-conference play with eight wins, the second-most wins of any first year coach in the mid-major ranks. 

ABOUT SACRAMENTO STATE
Sacramento State topped Portland State on the road 76-74. Jaiteh Fatoumata scored a season-high 28 points  on 6-7 shooting from the field and 16-19 from the free throw line. Jaydia Martin leads the way with 14.1 points per game. The Hornets are a solid defensively and ford 19.86 turnovers per game. 

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 had 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 had 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 22-20 all-time in the Arena. The Vandals played their Dec. 7 game against St. Thomas in Memorial Gym because of practice. 

DEFENSIVE DOMINATION
The Vandals rank seventh in the NCAA in Field goal percentage defense. Idaho is holding opponents to 33.7 percent from the field. The Vandals are sixth in defensive rebounds, 32nd in scoring defense and 71st in scoring margin. During Idaho's seven-game win streak, the Vandals held every opponent to 56 points or less.  Only three Vandal opponents have hit the 60 point mark this season. 

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
The Idaho women's team reached the highest net ranking in program history last week, cracking the top 80 for the first time ever, moving as high as 78th. They sit at 105 currently. 

 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 2021-22 and 2022-23, 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 previous 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 11 of 12 opponents so far this season, including a 52-36 advantage over Washington State. The Vandals stand atop the Big Sky for rebounding margin and are seventh in the country for defensive rebounds. Jennifer Aadland has led the way, averaging 10.2 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. 

BIG SKY-SUMMIT CHALLENGE
Idaho beat St. Thomas 76-54 as part of the Big Sky/Summit League Challenge. The Idaho men and women played one game each in the challenge and each won their games. 

NEWCOMER IMPACT 
All five starters so far this season are newcomers to the team. Of Idaho's 880 points this season, 823 have come from players who were not on the roster a year ago. Rosie Schweizer, Olivia Nelson and Hope Hassman have all scored a pair of 20+ games.

AADLAND ON THE BOARDS
Jennifer Aadland is 10 in the nation in defensive rebounds and is 19th in rebounds per game. She had a career-high 18 rebounds against WSU and has been in double figures in nine of 13 games.

MORIERA AMONG FIRST-YEAR COACHES
Head coach Arthur Moriera has led the Vandals to eight non-conference wins in his first season as the head coach. It is the most wins for the Vandals in the non-conference since 2015-16. It is also the second most non-conference wins among mid-major first-year coaches, coming second only to Air Force's Stacy McIntyre who ended non-conference play with 10 wins.