Hope for March: How Idaho guard Hassmann is driving high-octane Vandals toward their NCAA goal

It’s no wonder the Idaho women’s basketball team is leading the race for the Big Sky Conference regular-season crown.

They’re playing faster than everyone else.

With dependable point guard Hope Hassmann at the wheel, second-year coach Arthur Moreira has been able to install an up-tempo system that has helped Idaho thrive. At 14-1 and a game ahead of Montana State, the Vandals are in the driver’s seat with three games to play and the conference tournament looming in two weeks.

“Playing fast took a little time to do and figure out,” said Hassman, whose Vandals are averaging a league-best 79.4 points per game. “But we can go into the bench really deep. It’s awesome. Playing point guard in our system is a lot of fun.”

The results have been staggering. Idaho is riding a 12-game win streak and sit 23-5 overall – gaudy numbers that hearken back to the program’s best team more than 40 years ago, when those Vandals advanced to the 1985 NCAA Tournament – eventually losing to Cheryl Miller and USC.

That UI team fashioned winning streaks of 15 and 12 games on their way to a 28-2 record.

These Vandals haven’t lost since Jan. 10 when they fell 99-66 to MSU in Bozeman. Idaho atoned for that defeat in the rematch a month later, taking out the Bobcats 73-70 in overtime in Moscow.

Idaho has gotten solid play inside from Debora dos Santos (11.6 points, 7.6 rebounds) and Lorena Barbosa (8.7 points, 4.7 rebounds). And Krya Gardner (13.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists) has been elite in all phases.

But the driving force might be Hassmann, whose selfless style has impacted the Vandals from offense to defense to rebounding.

“I feel it all starts with team goals, then I take myself into account,” Hassmann said.

For the season, the junior guard is averaging 14.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists. She eclipsed the career 1,000-point scoring mark against Weber State Feb. 12 when she dropped a career-high 25 against the Wildcats in an 80-67 UI victory.

Hassmann, who grew up in Maple Valley, Washington, began her career at Cal State Fullerton before transferring to Idaho as a sophomore.

“I am very glad I went there,” she said of Fullerton. “But I was looking for something a little different. More of a team culture.”

She has found that and more in Moscow.

“We have such great community support,” Hassman said. “We have so much more attendance from the students. It is so cool.”

Hassmann, who is majoring in marketing, is doing her part to contribute to the culture. As much as she enjoys being stopped downtown and congratulated after a Vandals’ win, she also embraces getting to cheer on UI’s football and soccer teams.

“I love supporting other athletes,” she said.

At the moment, the support seems firmly behind Hassmann’s Vandals. Idaho hits the road Thursday to play Northern Arizona before closing at home against Northern Colorado on Saturday and Eastern Washington on Monday.

Win all three and the Vandals secure the No. 1 seed in Boise for the conference tourney, which begins March 7.

“Every opponent is looking to have their best game against us,” Hassmann said. “We talk about it every day in practice – playing our game, not anybody else’s.”

So far, the attitude has worked 12 times in a row.

“It is special this year,” she said. “We are doing something special. The goal is to reach March Madness.”