In rematch of Mountain West title game, Boise State and Nevada go down to the wire
The Boise State women’s basketball team had a troublesome night at the free-throw line in Reno.
Fortunately for the Broncos, the makes turned out to be a lot more memorable than the misses.
Braydey Hodgins made two free throws with 5.1 seconds left to provide the Broncos with just enough cushion to absorb a Nevada 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 75-74 victory Wednesday night in a rematch of last year’s Mountain West Tournament championship game.
“Confidence comes from prevailing at the end of games,” Boise State coach Gordy Presnell told Chris Lewis in a postgame radio interview on 1350 AM. “We’re very fortunate that (Hodgins) hit both of those free throws.
“Hopefully we can learn from it, and it’s better learning from winning than learning from losing, that’s for sure.”
The Broncos (13-2, 4-0 MW) went a combined 14-for-25 (56 percent) from the free-throw line and squandered a 13-point lead near the end of the third quarter to let the Wolf Pack (5-11, 1-4) back in the game.
While Boise State struggled at the charity stripe, Nevada made 22-of-26, including 9-of-10 in the fourth quarter.
“I could feel the emotion and intensity since we tipped off,” said Boise State junior A’Shanti Coleman, whose buzzer beater in last year’s title game gave the Broncos a 72-70 victory over Nevada. “They’re a hungry team, and I give a lot of credit to them.”
Just like last year’s championship showdown between the Broncos and Wolf Pack, Wednesday’s game wasn’t decided until the final seconds.
Jade Redmon made a layup with 13 seconds left to bring the Wolf Pack within 71-68, and Nevada immediately fouled Boise State’s Jayde Christopher to stop the clock. Christopher made both free throws for a 73-68 lead with 14 seconds left, but Nevada remained undeterred.
Camariah King answered with a 3-pointer to make it 73-71. And with no timeouts left, the Wolf Pack fatefully chose to foul Hodgins to stop the clock again.
Had Hodgins missed one free throw, King’s triple at the buzzer would have forced overtime. Two misses would have handed the Wolf Pack the win.
“I was glad that we did enough to win the game. I thought that we had a decent fourth quarter. We made the plays we had to,” Presnell said. “But we didn’t close it out as well as I’d like, both offensively and defensively. In the Mountain West it’s hard to win on the road, and we won. Let’s get out of here and go on to the next one.”
Boise State is now 4-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2006-07 season when the Broncos started 8-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. Boise State also has won 14 games in a row against Mountain West foes, which is a program record.
The Broncos play at Fresno State on Saturday in a matchup that will decide which team takes over sole possession of first place in the Mountain West. The Broncos and Bulldogs are the only teams left with perfect league records. Saturday’s game tips off at 2 p.m. MT in Fresno, California, and is available at WatchStadium.com and 1350 AM.
Notes: Senior guard Marta Hermida became just the second player in Boise State history to accumulate 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists in her career, joining Tasha Harris (2004-10). Hermida now has 1,048 points, 506 rebounds and 340 assists. ... Coleman was the Broncos’ leading scorer against the Wolf Pack with 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting. ... Sophomore Tess Amundsen notched a season-high 12 points in just eight minutes off the bench.
BOISE STATE 75, NEVADA 74
BOISE STATE (13-2, 4-0 MW)
A’Shanti Coleman 7-10 4-5 18; Tess Amundsen 5-6 0-0 12; Joyce Harrell 5-10 1-2 11; Riley Lupfer 3-11 2-2 10; Marta Hermida 3-8 2-6 8; Braydey Hodgins 2-5 3-4 8; Jayde Christopher 1-3 2-4 4; Rachel Bowers 1-2 0-0 2; Ellie Woerner 1-2 0-0 2; Marijk Vanderschaaf 0-0 0-2 0; Jade Loville 0-2 0-0 0; Sofia Galeron 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-59 14-25 75.
NEVADA (5-11, 1-4 MW)
Terae Briggs 4-7 9-10 17; Jade Redmon 5-13 6-6 16; Camariah King 4-8 0-0 11; Emma Torbert 4-5 1-2 10; Da’Ja Hamilton 3-5 2-2 8; Essence Booker 2-4 1-1 5; Imani Lacy 2-3 1-3 5; Amaya West 0-0 2-2 2; Kristin Dearth 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-46 22-26 74.
Boise State................... 19 12 23 21 — 75
Nevada........................ 13 8 28 25 — 74
3-point goals — Boise State 5-13 (Amundsen 2-3; Lupfer 2-7; Hodgins 1-2; Hermida 0-1), Nevada 4-6 (King 3-5; Torbert 1-1). Fouled out — Boise State-None, Nevada-Booker. Rebounds — Boise State 30 (Harrell 7; Hermida 7), Nevada 28 (Briggs 9). Assists — Boise State 18 (Christopher 5), Nevada 10 (Torbert 3; Redmon 3). Total fouls — Boise State 20, Nevada 20. Technical fouls — None. A — 872.
This story was originally published January 16, 2019 at 11:09 PM.
