Leadership is a skill that is important for the foundation of any successful team.
It’s a skill junior post Isabelle Hadden is more than familiar with.
Hadden grew up in Boise, where she played for Boise High School and began to field offers for where she wanted to play at the collegiate level.
During her visit to Moscow, Hadden said she quickly realized the coaches, teammates and culture at Idaho were a match made in heaven.
Family was also an important part of the final decision to become a part of the Vandal lifestyle, Hadden said.
“I also just wanted to be really close to home,” Hadden said. “I’m from Boise so my parents are able to come to a lot of games. It’s just really nice to be close to family but also have my own family up here.”
Being a part of a family means that you have to commit to whatever role the team asks. When she entered her junior season, she was asked to help lead this team through a tough non- conference schedule and the always hectic Big Sky field.
Hadden said she was not expecting to receive team captain honors coming into her third season, but knew exactly what it would take for her to embrace a leadership role.
Junior post Isabelle Hadden drives past a Portland State defender Saturday in Cowan Spectrum.
“Some of the most important things are just building up all of your underclassmen, or even the upperclassmen, really just anyone that needs help,” Hadden said. “Maybe if they are struggling with their confidence or if they need just a pick-me-up.
I think that is super important because basketball is just such a game of confidence and if you have that confidence, you can perform really well on the court.”
With significant experience on Hadden’s resume, her skills on the court drew comparisons to a former Idaho great, Alyssa Charlston.
Charlston was an integral part of the Vandals success from 2010-2014, where the program won the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) twice, leading to two NCAA tournament appearances. She also collected multiple all-conference selections, averaging over 14 points and six rebounds in her senior season.
“(Charlston) was an amazing player,” Hadden said. “It’s nice to be compared to her, but I also kind of want to create my own, not legacy, but be my own player and not be compared to anyone, especially someone as great as (Charlston).”
Coming into the 2018-2019 season, there were big expectations for the Vandals, who were selected as the preseason favorite to win the Big Sky in the Coaches and Media polls. Under the leadership of fellow captains senior guards Mikayla Ferenz and Taylor Pierce, the expectations for Idaho to deliver this season was high.
The “Splash Sisters” Ferenz and Pierce have set some incredible marks during their senior season: Ferenz became the all-time leading scorer for Idaho basketball, women’s and men’s, and Pierce became the fourth woman ever in Division I history to hit 400 career threes. Hadden, along with the rest of the team, wants to send out these living legends off right.
“(Ferenz and Pierce) just have so much experience,” Hadden said. “They won the Big Sky Tournament as freshmen, now it’s their senior year, and I personally, along with the other girls, we want to win it for them so that they can finish their careers as Big Sky champions.”
Hadden also said the experience the Splash Sisters bring to the team along with their “will to win” will help bring up the confidence and determination of this year’s squad on the road to reclaim- ing the conference title.
While this season’s team has an established base with plenty of experience and great new players in the freshmen and transfers, Hadden said team chemistry will be the key to the success.
“If you have that team chemistry and you are all really close to each other, it doesn’t always take a lot of talent to win games.” Hadden said.
Zack Kellogg can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @kellogg_zack