'I love being here': Kyra Gardner is blossoming with Idaho after transfer from Washington State

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Dec. 31—Transferring from Idaho to Washington State for a final basketball season with the Cougars in 2023-24 worked out exceptionally well for Beyonce Bea and Isaac Jones.

After four stellar years at Idaho, Bea got an opportunity to play in the postseason as the Cougs reached the 2024 Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament semifinals.

Following his one season with the Vandals, Jones reached the 2024 NCAA Tournament with WSU. The Cougars beat Drake in the first round before losing to Iowa State. It was a gateway to the National Basketball Association for Jones. He played for the Sacramento Kings in 2024-25. He is with the Detroit Pistons this year and is currently on assignment to the Pistons' G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise.

But now the scales are getting balanced.

Following three years at WSU, Kyra Gardner is playing her senior season at Idaho for a Vandals team that is 9-4 heading into Big Sky Conference play. Gardner is not just along for the ride. The 5-11 senior from Raymond, Wash., is a big reason the Vandals are a league contender. She is averaging 12.8 points, seven rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. She has also blocked 12 shots and has 33 steals.

Gardner served notice in her first game that the transfer to Idaho was working out just fine. She dropped 26 points on the Cougars and hit a game-tying shot against her old team with 37 seconds to play as Idaho furiously rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half to win, 87-85. It was the Vandals' first win against the Cougars in 22 years.

She wrapped up nonconference play with a triple-double with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists against Western Oregon in a game the Vandals won 91-63. It was the first triple-double for Idaho since 2018 when Mikayla Ferenz, one of Idaho's heralded Splash Sisters and its all-time leading scorer with 2,466 points, accomplished the feat.

Gardner came to basketball early if unobtrusively.

"I am kind of obsessed with basketball," she said.

Gardner started playing in the third grade, with her mom as her coach.

"I was little and scrawny, and my jersey hung down to my knees," she said.

Within two years she had grown enough and figured things out enough to be playing with older kids.

"I always knew I wanted to play on college, and by fifth grade it became realistic," Gardner said.

She graduated from Raymond High School as its career leader in points and steals and was the 2021-22 Gatorade Washington Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Gardner's choices for playing in college came down to Idaho and WSU. Although she says she forged a great relationship with Vandals' associate head coach Drew Muscatell during recruiting, she opted to play for the Cougars.

WSU's offense was built around perimeter shooting, according to Gardner, and with the Cougars she was an inconsistent shooter, says Vandals' head coach Arthur Moreira. As a junior, Gardner averaged 3.4 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.

"I needed a little change," she said.

The Vandals are a team of race horses, using the whole floor, passing and moving. When Gardner decided to leave WSU for her final season, she saw that Muscatell was still on the Idaho staff, and they reconnected.

For two weeks before the opening game with WSU, Gardner said she was anxious about how she would feel playing the Cougars.

"I kind of felt like I had something to prove," she said. "Right before the tipoff, I decided I did not have anything to prove to my old coaches. I just had to play my game."

This has been a big year for Gardner. In addition to joining the Vandals, she got engaged. Things have been going so well with basketball that she is entertaining thoughts of playing professionally internationally after college, even if that involves bringing new husband Tristan West overseas.

"He better support me," she said.

Playing for the Vandals has expanded her game.

"She is one of the few players who can impact a game every way," Moreira said. "She has great instincts,"

On the court, Gardner is smooth, quick but not frantic playing as a guard or a wing. She can score from anywhere and always seems to be in good position to grab a rebound, block a shot or make a steal. She is also a quality passer. Against Western Oregon, Gardner threaded bounce passes to posts in a crowded lane, and she launched half-court missiles onto the hands of teammates streaking from a wing to the basket.

This didn't stand out when he was watching videotape of her, Moreira acknowledged.

"She is an amazing passer. But it wasn't until we started practice that I realized she was the best passer in the gym," he said.

"Arthur is a funny guy. He's smiling," Gardner said. "He never yells at us. He is always standing there with his arms folded smiling."

This is not exactly as Moreira sees the relationship.

"She is a great person," he said. "When I got to know her, we became close."

However, he also admits they can strike sparks off each other. After being dissatisfied with what he saw in the first quarter against Western Oregon, he substituted for Gardner.

"I gave her a hug at halftime and said, 'You have got to move on from this. We need you.' She came back with a triple double."

In her season with the Vandals, Gardner says she is intentional about being a good leader.

"I want to be someone my teammates can lean on," she said. "They can come to me when they have a question on the court. This is definitely new for me. I love being here. This place kind of feels more like home, like family."

For Gardner, eight miles has made all the difference. What do you know? The road to second chance opportunity between Pullman and Moscow runs both ways.

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