“On the dotted line” is a series spotlighting local athletes and their journeys to signing National Letters of Intent. If you know of an athlete who’s already signed or will be and should be featured, please email bwalton@journalnet.com.
Abby Lusk had choices. Plenty of them.
Arizona. Texas Tech. UNLV. Montana State. San Diego. Boise State. Approximately 30 offers in all for the 6-foot-1-inch Pocatello senior forward who is one of the state’s most decorated athletes.
But on Nov. 17, when Lusk signed her letter of intent on the same court at Pocatello High School where she’s made quite the name for herself over the years, there was only one name on the paper: Gonzaga University.
“It was kind of just like a surreal moment being able to get to that point where you can pick where you wanted to go,” Lusk said. “I had an amazing choice in Gonzaga. It was just super cool to see people come out and support me and who have supported me throughout this entire journey.”
That journey — from learning the game in the Gate City League at a young age through a program rebuild and heartbreak to becoming a state champion and 5A Player of the Year — is what made the signing ceremony so much more meaningful.
Pocatello head coach Sunny Evans saw something special in Lusk long before she ever stepped on a high school court.
Evans worked as a counselor at Irving Middle School Middle School when Lusk was a student. She didn’t need to see Lusk play basketball to know she had the “it factor.”
“I saw her walking through the hall and everybody knew who she was,” Evans recalled. “She was just so confident but she was so kind to everybody around her. People — students, teachers — responded to her. I was like, ‘Yeah, she understands what it’s all about.’”
Athletics run deep in her family. Both her mother (basketball) and father (football) played at Idaho State. Her older sister Miah was a two-time Player of the Year for softball and now pitches for Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa.
Like her mother, Lusk chose basketball and has been playing since she could walk. Her mom coached her through those early Gate City League years. By middle school, she was playing with the Hoopsters alongside girls like Boise State center Kenna Garza who would go on to help transform Pocatello’s long-struggling program.
“That was probably the best early basketball experience of my life,” Lusk said of those middle school days.
But the high school picture was far bleaker. When Evans took over in 2019, Pocatello had made state just four times in 18 years, with its only trophy during that span being a third-place finish in 2014. Her first two seasons were brutal to say the least. The Thunder went 4-36 with a one-win campaign in 2021 serving as rock bottom.
Then Abby Lusk arrived.
“Abby was sort of that one more piece that we needed that really propelled us to the next level,” Evans said. “She did so many things for us as a freshman on the stat sheet, but she was so energetic and enthusiastic. As a freshman, she was so good at getting the team together and being positive.”
That year, she averaged 9.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, helping Pocatello back to the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade. Lusk then led the Thunder to the state consolation title with a 22-point, 11-rebound performance in a 68-53 win over Minico.
The following year, Lusk was an all-state first-team selection after putting up 16.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.7 steals per game. She also received her first Division I offer from Idaho State that season.
“It was a super amazing moment to just know that all the hard work was being seen,” Lusk said.
But for Lusk, it was overshadowed a bit by a 51-48 state semifinal loss to Skyline — the same team the Thunder had beaten by double figures during the regular season. Lusk printed out a photo of Skyline’s Shay Shippen throwing the ball in celebration at the end of that game. Evans helped get it mounted on poster board, and Lusk carried it in her backpack for an entire year, even pinning it up in the locker room before games, forcing her teammates to confront that feeling of defeat.
“That was the year that kind of haunted me,” Lusk said.
But after Pocatello’s nail-biting 54-52 semifinal victory over Blackfoot in February 2025, Lusk finally tore it up. One day later, she delivered 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Pocatello (24-2) to a 62-46 victory over top-ranked Middleton for the Thunder’s first-ever girls basketball state championship.
“It was unreal,” Lusk said. “There’s maybe 10 seconds left on the clock and I’m freaking out telling my team just to stay in it, like the game’s not over. It was such an emotional night for all of us, being able to go through all those adversities — seeing no wins to seeing the best of wins.”
Lusk also averaged 16.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 3.4 assists that season to surpass 1,000 career points and earn 5A Player of the Year honors.
“There isn’t anything she can’t do,” Evans said. “She’s made herself into a deadly three-point shooter. She can post up, she can get to the rack. She’s got a mid-range game. She can guard like crazy. I can play her one through five. She can just impact the game in so many different ways.”
But even after a state title and Player of the Year honors, Lusk isn’t resting on her laurels. This past summer with Mountain West Premier on the EYBL circuit — where she competed against elite Division I prospects at tournaments across the country with national championship-winning coaches like UConn’s Geno Auriemma and LSU’s Kim Mulkey watching from the sidelines — Lusk lost her starting spot.
“It was a real experience to realize that you can’t stop working because there’s always going to be somebody who comes up,” said Lusk, who did get her spot back. “It was a wake-up call that I needed and it really pushed me to fight for it.”
Now Lusk faces another challenge. As Pocatello’s only returning starter from last season’s championship team, she no longer has veterans like Garza to lean on. Instead, she’s tasked with leading a young Thunder (2-0) squad that views her with a mix of admiration and awe.
“We’ve got kids in our program that are like, ‘Abby Lusk gave me a high five. I’m not going to wash my hands,’” Evans said. “A kid literally said that. She’s like, ‘Wait, I need you to make a basket. That’s what I need you to do.’”
But Evans believes Lusk is ready for the challenge.
“She came in and just has so much fun with them,” Evans said. “She just dove in and started playing with them. They didn’t really have a choice except to just come along with her.”
It wasn’t just basketball, either.
Lusk could have very easily been a college volleyball player. She actually received a Division I offer from Idaho State for volleyball and likely would have gotten more had that been her focus.
But Lusk was still a soon-to-be three-time all-state selection and a two-time Conference Player of the Year. This season, she led Idaho in kills with 614. She leaves with the school record of 1,496 kills. It all resulted in Pocatello ending a 30-year state playoff drought and winning three consecutive district titles during her prolific tenure.
“I always used it as a side sport to keep me in shape,” Lusk said of volleyball. “But coach Paige Leatham made it really hard to just keep it that way. She changed it to more of just a love for the game — to be able to go out there and compete and have fun with it.”
Now Lusk joins a Gonzaga program that has made the NCAA Tournament in eight of the last 10 seasons — it would have been nine had the tournament not been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Just two years ago, the Bulldogs finished 32-4 − the best record in program history − and reached the Sweet 16 as a No. 4 seed, the highest seed in program history.
Evans believes Lusk is more than ready to help the program maintain that high standard.
“Abby isn’t even close to reaching her potential yet,” Evans said. “She’s off the charts talented, but I just think she still has a really big upside. She’s a worker.”
For Evans, watching Lusk sign represented the culmination of a special relationship that transcends basketball.
“I’ve been around Abby more than a lot of people in my life the last few years,” Evans said. “I feel confident saying that Abby cares about me and I feel comfortable saying Abby knows I care about her. Those types of relationships are pretty priceless.”
At Lusk’s signing ceremony, Evans struggled with her emotions. Lusk put her arm around her coach.
“You can do it, coach,” she told Evans. “I’m nervous too. You got it.”
Evans managed a laugh through tears. “You know, you really piss me off sometimes, Abby.”
“Oh yeah, I know,” Lusk replied.
“And you know I love you, right?”
“Yeah, I love you too, coach.”
“I would definitely not hesitate to say she’s like the daughter I never had,” Evans said. “I’d take her any day.”