FINAL SCORE: No. 13 Idaho 59, No. 4 Oklahoma 89
RECORDS: Idaho (29-6, 17-1), Oklahoma (25-7, 11-5)
IDAHO LEADERS:  Kyra Gardner (19 points), Debora Dos Santos and Ana Pinheiro (eight rebounds), Ella Uriarte (three assists)
 
NOTABLES:

• Idaho closes its season setting several school records (29 overall wins, 17 conference wins, 18 wins in a row – longest in the NCAA era, 14 home wins – ties school record). Idaho received its best seed in the modern era of the NCAA tournament)
• This was the first meeting between Idaho and Oklahoma in series history
• Idaho outscored Oklahoma in the fourth quarter 21-13
• Kyra Gardner led all players with 19 points

NORMAN, Okla. – A remarkable, record-setting season came to a close on Friday night in the NCAA tournament, as the Idaho Vandals Women's Basketball stumbled against the Oklahoma Sooners, falling by a score of 89-59. 

Kyra Gardner got the scoring started for the Vandals with a second-chance layup on Idaho's first possession of the game. With the score knotted up at 4, Gardner made a pullup jumper to give Idaho the lead at the 7:09 mark. Hope Hassmann got on the score sheet at 6:24 with a jumper, followed by a Debora Dos Santos three ball from the top of the key to give Idaho an 11-9 lead in the first. The Vandals and Sooners went to the first media timeout tied at 11. 

Coming out of the break, Oklahoma went on a 9-2 run before Lorena Barbosa knocked in another Vandal three. The Sooner offense had another burst for another 7-0 run that was snapped when Gardner hit a three just before the horn to cut Idaho's deficit to eight points at the end of the first.

The Vandals went scoreless for the first three and a half minutes of the second before Ana Pinheiro connected from outside, making it a 34-22 game, but that's as close as Idaho would get for the remainder of the game. Idaho trailed 57-35 at the half. 

In the fourth quarter, Gardner caught fire from outside, nailing back-to-back three pointers to jump-start the offense, then cut through the paint to lay it in for two. Following a three-pointer from Ana Beatriz Passos Alves da Silva, Hassmann made a layup, Gardner stole the ball to force a Sooner turnover, and Hassmann drove to the cup for another layup. On Oklahoma's next possession, Gardner once again swiped possession of the ball to give the Vandals some momentum. The next bucket scored was Ana B, who once again connected from outside. 

Despite Idaho's valiant late rally and outscoring Oklahoma 21-13 in the fourth, the Vandals ultimately fell to Oklahoma, which finished the season ranked in the national top 10, by a score of 89-59. 
As history looks back on the 2025-26 season, it will see a Vandal team that completely reset the standard for what Idaho basketball is. This group won a program record 29 games. It set a new high for most consecutive games won in the NCAA era with 18. Idaho won 17 conference games this season, more victories in conference play than it ever had before. The Vandals re-established an elite homecourt advantage, packing ICCU Arena several times and tying the program record for most wins on its home hardwood with 14. 

Most importantly, this team cut down two nets as it won the outright Big Sky Conference regular-season championship, and followed that up with an unbelievable defensive effort to win its first Big Sky tournament title in a decade. 

In the 52 years that Idaho Women's Basketball has existed, the program had never accomplished what the 2025-26 Vandals did. From beating Washington State with a historic comeback to start the season, all the way to cutting down the tournament nets in Boise, these Vandals broke record after record, provided memory after memory, and will go down in history as the group that reset the standard of what it means to be an Idaho Vandal.

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