Those of us with siblings could characterize our relationships with them as “love-hate.” But it’s different for two members of the Washington University women’s basketball team: senior Alex Hoover and younger sister Dani, a junior.

Their father’s “dream house,” deep in the heart of Kansas basketball country, contains a regulation-sized indoor basketball court on the property, complete with a scoreboard and banners in the rafters.

While the court has served other purposes, such as soccer, hockey and Nerf gun battles, it certainly has been advantageous to the Hoovers’ basketball development.

“[The court] makes it really easy to practice,” Alex said. “Like when we went home over Christmas break and some of our teammates were having trouble finding gyms that were open, it’s great to be able to go whenever you want.”

Dani added that the gym is rarely empty, as it is also used by their older brother, a player on the Kansas University women’s scout team, and by their dad, a local high school coach.

The Hoovers’ practice has shown. Dani, just ahead of her sister, leads the Bears in free throw percentage (.900) while Alex leads in three-point field goal percentage (.458).

The girls’ on-court relationship is truly remarkable. Alex, who said that she definitely has a better feel for Dani’s tendencies than she does for most of her teammates, leads the team in assists. Not surprisingly, Dani is the second most frequent recipient of those assists behind senior forward Kathryn Berger.

“If I passed to [Dani] any more, people might get kind of suspicious about a sister-sister bias,” Alex said.

Berger wasn’t surprised by the team’s assist breakdown and thought that the main reason that she capitalized on more passes from Alex was that she played more minutes than Dani to this point in the season.

What is more noteworthy, however, is how well the sisters get along off of the court. Despite constant prodding, they’ll never admit to a sibling rivalry, and they’ve never played against each other.

The Hoover sisters are what you might call a two-for-one deal. They live together, they answer questions for each other, they both played the same three sports in high school and they both came to Wash. U. When it comes to pick-up basketball games, they prefer to take on their older brother together.

“Their relationship is really, really impressive,” Berger said. “It’s really interesting that they can live together and get along so well. Alex definitely watches out for [Dani]…I have a younger brother, and it’s definitely a cat and dog thing. That’s why I’m really impressed.”

Nevertheless, as the season draws to a close, the basketball chapter of this sisterhood will also come to an end. Alex will graduate in May and, as was the case in high school, Dani will lose her wingman for her senior season.

“I don’t want to get all sentimental,” Dani said, “but [Alex is] a senior, so she’s going to be graduating. So I’m just really trying to enjoy this year, especially since last year was kind of cut short by my broken hand, and we’re just trying to make it the best year we can. I wouldn’t want to play with anybody else.”