Idaho women’s basketball team clinches NCAA Tournament berth, holds off Montana State in Big Sky championship
BOISE – The Idaho women’s basketball team made only one field goal in the fourth quarter of the Big Sky Tournament championship.
Despite an inefficient shooting performance in the final stage of the tournament against second-seeded Montana State, the Vandals prevailed to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade.
The top team in the Big Sky all season long left no doubt as to who the best team in the conference is. Idaho completed a sweep of the Big Sky regular-season and conference tournament titles, defeating the Bobcats 60-57 on Wednesday afternoon at Idaho Central Arena.
The only team that beat Idaho in conference play made one last run at the Vandals (29-5) with a championship on the line. MSU (25-7) trailed by 11 early in the fourth quarter, but eventually cut it to one with 54 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Ella Johnson. Idaho junior guard Hope Hassmann knocked down two free throws to put the Vandals back up by three with 19 seconds left.
But it was Lorena Barbosa who officially closed the door on MSU. The redshirt senior forward for Idaho blocked Johnson’s 3-point attempt with two seconds left. Hassmann secured the loose ball and was fouled.
Hassmann missed both free throws on the other end, but with only a second left and no timeouts for the Bobcats, they were only a formality. Confetti began to fall as the final buzzer sounded, marking the return to the NCAA Tournament for Idaho, which will be making its fifth appearance in the tournament.
“I was just so happy and so happy to be a part of this team,” Hassmann said of her emotions at the final buzzer. “I love each and every one of the girls. We have such a special bond. On the bus ride here, we all painted our nails the same color. We just all love each other so much and want to do everything together. I feel like that was the motto of the game at times when we couldn’t score. We knew we had to come together and get stops. That was the name of the game.”
It’s been a record-breaking season for the Vandals. They won a program-record 17 conference games, are currently on the longest winning streak in program history (18) and set the team record for single-season wins (29) on Wednesday.
“These girls now, even the ones that were here for one year, if they look down the line 20 years from now … this team is going to go down in the history books in a lot of categories,” Idaho head coach Arthur Moreira said. “Hopefully we can do something special and maybe this team down the line can even go in the (Vandals) Hall of Fame. When they have their families, their careers, they always have something to look back to. Not everybody can say that.”
Idaho did its damage on the interior. The Vandals had a considerable advantage in points in the paint with 34, compared to 12 for Montana State. Seven of the eight players that touched the court scored at least five points, with Ana Beatriz Passos Alves da Silva leading the way with 12 points off the bench. Hassmann added 11 points and was named tournament MVP after averaging 13.3 points, 4.3 assists and four rebounds in three games.
Moreira took the job at Idaho two seasons ago, inheriting two returning players, with only one with significant playing time. A mix of transfers and high school recruits helped the Vandals post a winning record in his first season, then Idaho blossomed into one of the nation’s top mid-major programs.
“It’s a lot of people that decided to take a chance on us,” said Moreira, who proudly displayed the championship trophy at the postgame news conference. “This doesn’t happen by one person or two or three. It takes the whole team, the entire roster, all our staff, all our support staff, admin. This is the people’s trophy right here.”