MOSCOW, Idaho - The second swing of Big Sky play starts in earnest Thursday with Big sky action at the Viking Pavilion in Portland. The Vandals are 7-3 in league while PSU is 1-8. The first meeting was much closer than the records indicate with the Vandals pulling out the come from behind 60-56 win. 

ABOUT IDAHO
Idaho is 7-3 in Big Sky play, but just 2-2 in the last four games. On the season Olivia Nelson who is averaging 14.2 PPG and 17.9 PPG in Big Sky play. Hope Hassmann is scoring 11.8 PPG. Jennifer Aadland is one of the nation's best rebounders at 9.9 rpg. Head coach Arthur Moreira is one of just three first-year DI WBB coaches with 15 wins at this point in the season on a team with a losing record last year.

ABOUT PORTLAND STATE
The Vikings are on a five-game losing streak and have struggled on offense, averaging 50.6 points per game during that stretch, but gave the Vandals trouble in the last meeting, leading the game until Idaho took the lead with just over two minutes left in the fourth. Alaya Fitzgerald leads the way with 11.71 points per game. Head coach Chelsey Gregg is 32-77 in her four seasons in the Rose City. 

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 started the season with 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 24-21 all-time in the Arena. The Vandals played their Dec. 7 game against St. Thomas in Memorial Gym because of winter commencement. 

DEFENSIVE DOMINATION
The Vandals rank eighth in the NCAA in Field goal percentage defense. Idaho is holding opponents to 34.9% from the field. The Vandals are fourth in defensive rebounds. During Idaho's seven-game win streak, the Vandals held every opponent to 56 points or less.  Only five 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 earlier in the season, cracking the top 80 for the first time ever, moving as high as 78th. They sit at 131 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.

NELSON NETTING
Graduate transfer Oliva Nelson has come alive since the start of conference play. She has scored in double figures in each of the last eight games, including a career-high 30 points against Weber State, 27 vs Northern Colorado and 29 against EWU. She is averaging 17.9 PPG in Big sky play. 

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 15-21 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 9.9 rebounds per game, including 18 rebounds against both Washington State and Sacramento 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 1405 points this season, 1316 have come from players who were not on the roster a year ago. Rosie Schweizer, Olivia Nelson and Hope Hassman have all scored at least two 20+ games.

AADLAND ON THE BOARDS
Jennifer Aadland is 7th in the nation in defensive rebounds and is 28th in rebounds per game. She had a career-high 18 rebounds against WSU and Sacramento State and has been in double figures in 12 of 21 games.

MOREIRA AMONG FIRST-YEAR COACHES
Head coach Arthur Moreira is one of just 11 DI first-year coaches who have won 15 games at this point in the season. Only three, Moreira, Tulane's Ashley Langord, and Kentucky's Kenny Brooks, who led Virginia Tech to the Final Four in 2022-23, have won at least 15 games with a team who had a losing record in 2023-24. There are 59 first-year coaches across Division I women's basketball.