With under two minutes left in the first half, the Idaho Vandals women’s basketball team played much different basketball than many expected. The Vandals led Walla Walla University 31-22, and the Wolves had a chance to cut into the lead.
Freshman guard Jaylo Bello had the ball in her hands with the chance to cut the lead to two possessions. Bello launched a three-pointer that she missed, and graduate guard Olivia Nelson brought down the rebound.
Nelson sprinted down the court where she found sophomore guard Hope Hassmann. Hassmann crossed to her left hand and found graduate forward Jennifer Aadland open at the top of the key.
Hassmann delivered the pass right on the money, and Aadland knocked down the three-pointer to give the Vandals their first double-digit lead of the game.
From then on, the Vandals put the game in cruise control and defeated the Wolves 76-51 to get their first win of the season and the first win in the Arthur Moreira era.
Hassmann, who had a strong night, finishing with 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists, was excited to get their first win and for the future of this season.
“It feels great, but it’s the first (of) many more to come,” Hassmann said. “I’m excited for what the future holds, and the rest of (the) season; we’re excited too as a team to get those wins.”
The Vandals’ victory was hard-earned, requiring them to overcome a rough start. Despite being down for most of the first quarter and struggling to find their rhythm on both ends of the court, they managed to hold a slim 20-17 lead after the first quarter,
Of those that had a rough start, graduate forward Rosie Schweizer, who missed a few shots early but rebounded and led the Vandals with 14 points and five rebounds and talked about the team’s early struggles.
“We didn’t come out (ready to go) credit to them,” Schweizer said. “We nailed down on the turnovers and started passing the ball better. We weren’t physical enough or rebounding well in the first quarter. After that first quarter, we clicked and turned that around, and we rebounded very well in the second half.”
The Vandals outscored the Wolves 14-7 in the second quarter, including eight combined points from Aadland with six and Hassmann with two, to increase the Vandals’ lead to 34-24 heading into the locker room.
Aadland finished the game with a second straight double-double and was an impact all over the court. Putting up 12 points, 10 rebounds three assists, four steals and two blocks a stat line that has come to be expected of Aadland in her young Vandal career.
“Jen dominated down low,” Head coach Arthur Moreira said. “Another double-double for her, We need that from Jen every game.”
The Vandals came out of the locker room ready to play and dominated the Wolves 24-11 in the quarter, stretching the once-single-digit lead to 58-35 going into the fourth quarter.
With most of the bench players getting minutes in the fourth, the Vandals cruised and outscored the Wolves 18-16 to earn their first victory of the season.
“It’s always good to win,” Moreira said. “We have the best fans in the country; I love our student body, our fans; they’re all super supportive.”
The Vandals will travel for their third road game in four games as they head back to Utah to take on the (0-3) Southern Utah Thunderbirds, a matchup that will be another test for this Vandal team.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Moreira said. ” Southern Utah is a good team; It’s a hard place to play; they have great home-court advantage. We need to put four quarters together; we have a really good team, but can we do that for 40 minutes? that’s always the challenge with new teams.”
The Vandals and Thunderbirds will tip-off from America First Events Center on Saturday, November 16, at 1 p.m.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected]