Idaho State’s women’s basketball team announced a couple changes to the program on Monday.
One: Graduate student Dora Goles, who completed her fifth and final playing season this March, has joined the team as a full-time assistant coach.
Two: The Bengals added a new player, 6-foot-3 forward Laura Bello, who committed to the program. The transfer from D-II Newman (Wichita, Kansas) will help the team fill the holes of a dozen offseason departures.
“It’s totally a different perspective now, just seeing basketball from a completely different angle,” Goles said via release. “And I think I’m just honestly excited to stay in the sport. It was always kind of a worry of mine: What happens when I’m done playing? How am I going to get that basketball fix?”
Goles, one of the program’s most decorated players of all time, will give ISU something it will lack next season: experience. Since the end of last season, the Bengals have lost 10 players to the transfer portal and three (including Goles) to graduation. Assistant coach Ryan Johnson also left and took a job at Xavier, which is what created the opportunity for Goles.
Since the end of the season, ISU also secured commitments from incoming freshman Kacey Spink and Santa Clara transfer Sydney Bevington.
“We have a tradition of working hard, of being committed to each other and loving our community as much as they love us,” Idaho State head coach Seton Sobolewski said. “I think that’s such a big thing. That’s what makes people like Dora feel comfortable.”
Sobolewski also spoke highly of Bello, a rising sophomore. At Newman, she averaged 8 points on 47% shooting, grabbed 5 rebounds a game and shot 69% from the free throw line. She entered the transfer portal at the end of the season, which is when Sobolewski noticed her.
That’s when he dove into her film.
“She’s a little bit of a late-bloomer, but I think her upside is pretty high,” Sobolewski said via phone. “When I went to the film, she was physical and athletic and aggressive. I’m like, ‘Wow, this kid is pretty good.’ Once we started talking to her and getting to know her family, they’re really cool. Driven by academics. Great values.”