With 4.3 seconds remaining, the Idaho Vandals were clinging to a three-point lead and the ICCU Arena fell into a hush. The weight of the moment settled squarely on the shoulders of sophomore guard Hope Hassmann, who had been held scoreless for nearly 35 minutes of a grueling contest.
With the game on the line, it was her turn to write the final chapter. She calmly stepped to the free-throw line, the crowd holding its breath. Hassmann stepped up to the line and sank the first free throw.
Then, with ice in her veins, Hassmann drained the second, extending the Vandals’ lead to five and propelling them to grind out a 60-56 victory over the Vikings moving them to 11-4 (3-1) on the season and to second place in the Big Sky Conference.
“It’s a good experience for us to have this game under our belt,” Graduate forward Rosie Schweizer said. “We didn’t have the best start, but it showed the determination and resilience we’ve been building this year that we were able to come back from being down and pull out a tough victory like that.”
The Vandals began the game on the front foot. However, after building a 7-2 lead, the Vikings settled in and ended the first quarter on an 8-3 run to take a 10-9 lead into the second quarter.
The Vikings continued their hot start, by coming out with a 7-2 run in the second quarter, and holding a 17-11 lead. The Vikings aggressive defensive zone continued to test the Vandals shooting ability, and the Vikings pushed their lead to 25-15 with just over a minute to go in the quarter.
The Vandals were not going away without a fight and Hassmann—who struggled mightily with shooting the ball—found junior guard Anja Bukvic, who knocked down a three to cut the Vandals’ deficit to 25-18 heading into halftime.
With the Vandals needing a spark, head coach Arthur Moreira decided to use full-court pressure to try and energize the team and his plan worked to perfection. Graduate forward Jennifer Aadland went on a 5-0 run, knocking down a jumper and a three-pointer to cut the lead to 25-23. From then on, the teams traded baskets for the rest of the quarter.
With the Vikings leading 42-36, graduate guard Olivia Nelson took the game into her own hands. Nelson, already with nine points in the quarter, found success driving downhill.
With the time ticking down, Nelson drove to her right and got to the basket. She made the shot and drew the foul. Nelson made the free throw to cut the deficit to 42-39, and the Vandals took some much-needed momentum into the fourth quarter.
The Vandals’ desire to win was on display. They battled back and forth with the Vikings all quarter and after a 7-0 run, had their first lead of the game since the first quarter. Schweizer’s layup gave the Vandals the lead and energized the crowd.
The Vikings’ freshman guard Kyleigh Brown answered right back to give the Vikings the lead back at 51-50. The Vandals responded with a three-pointer by Bukvic, her third of the game, a layup and a jumper to grab their largest lead of the game: 57-51.
From there, the Vandals were able to close out the game and defeat the Vikings 60-56 and giving them their third straight win.
The Vikings made the game challenging for the Vandals from the start, forcing them to make their shots and putting pressure on their offense, which the Vandals did a much better job of in the second half.
“I don’t think we’ve played a team yet that has played zone the entire game, and their zone is also very extended. That gave us trouble,” Nelson said. “We had a lot of open looks, we just couldn’t knock them down. In the second half, we were able to get a rhythm and get easier buckets.”
Nelson was outstanding for the Vandals. She finished the game with 19 points, four assists and 6/7 from the free-throw line. Schweizer and Aadland contributed heavily in scoring and rebounding. Schweizer finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds and Aadland with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
An unsung hero was Bukvic who has struggled in prior games but had nine points and was 3/6 from beyond the arc.
Even with her lack of offensive execution, Hassmann was a key to the Vandals’ defense, and her active hands and competitive energy were big factors in the turnaround.
For the Vikings, senior guard/forward Alaya Fitzgerald was strong and finished with 17 points. Brown added 12 for the Vikings who fought tooth and nail but came up short.
The Vandals will have some time to rest up and prepare as they host the 6-10 (2-2) Eastern Washington Eagles in the first of a doubleheader on Saturday, Jan 18, at 1 p.m.
“That one is going to be a battle,” Moreira said. “They’re really good offensively; Coach Gleason has done a great job. It will be interesting to see how we can guard them and if we can match on the offensive end as well.”
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at arg-sports@uidaho.edu.