If Addie Schivo isn’t around her teammates, she may not have much to say. The senior Idaho point guard is shy around the media, and even her coaches have trouble getting her to talk it up.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
But get her around her teammates and she’s the funniest girl on the team. That’s the rumor, at least.
“Addie is pretty quiet around us, but apparently around the team she’s got a lot to say, is what I’ve heard,” Idaho women’s basketball coach Jon Newlee said. “Everybody says, Addie is really, really funny and talkative, so I think the coaches maybe don’t see that side of her, but her teammates certainly do.”
You wouldn’t know with the way Schivo plays the game. A quiet leader, Schivo rarely shows emotion on the court. Instead, it’s a business-oriented and quiet demeanor when she’s in the game. That’s the role Idaho has grown to embrace from her.
Thrust into the backup point guard role due to an injury to freshman Karlee Wilson, Schivo has added on to her do-it-all skillset in the Idaho backcourt.
It’s just another facet of her game she’s modest about.
“It was definitely a little unexpected, because I haven’t played a whole lot of point in college,” Schivo said. “I was up for it, we need a point guard. I can learn the plays from the point spot and hopefully help out.”
The adjustment took some time, but now the 11-1 in Western Athletic Conference play Vandals are rolling toward their second consecutive conference championship — Schivo as important a reason, even if she isn’t filling up the stat sheet.
“She’s also done a great job defensively for us. I thought last year (she) did a pretty good job defensively, but this year she’s really done a good job of being in the right spot, the right place,” Newlee said.
“She’s just done so many roles and done so many things well,” Newlee said. “She’s our jack of all trades, she can come in and do everything for us. We wouldn’t be where we are today without her.”
Next month, Schivo will be one of two Vandal seniors to play their final games at the Cowan Spectrum. Her quiet demeanor doesn’t mean she hasn’t helped taken on the leadership role that fellow senior Alyssa Charlston is tasked with. If anything, Schivo helps Charlston with the way she leads by example.
“Honestly, she just goes with the flow so much that she’s such a calm person to have on the floor and she always keeps her head about her,” Charlston said. “She’s not someone who gets too high, never gets too low. Especially as a senior, she’s a leader on the court, she keeps people in their zone, she’s just a good example of calmness.”
Schivo keeps things light off the court as well. She has a penchant for needing things to be neat and clean, so her teammates like to turn her locker nameplate upside down, or put dirty socks on her locker.
To her teammates’ admission, she’s a good sport about it.
“She always puts people first, she’s a very selfless person. Not just as a senior, that’s just how she is,” Charlston said. “She’s always willing to put others before herself and I think as a leader that’s really helped us a team.”
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]