Unexpected hero hits game-winning shot as Boise State rallies against New Mexico

It took multiple comebacks and an overtime period, but the Boise State women’s basketball opened defense of its Mountain West title by defeating New Mexico 83-82 on Wednesday night.

With 15 seconds left in overtime, it looked like Boise State might drop to below .500 on the season. New Mexico was up two and the Broncos had only made one shot in the period. It wasn’t Riley Lupfer, who had six 3-pointers in the game and is Boise State’s leader in career 3-point makes, and it wasn’t preseason player of the year Braydey Hodgins, who had made three 3-pointers in the game. But it was Mallory McGwire who stepped up and made the biggest shot of the game, a 3-pointer right in front of Boise State’s bench.

It wasn’t the play that coach Gordy Presnell drew up, either, but it worked nonetheless.

“That play that (McGwire) hit the three, that wasn’t for her,” Presnell said. “She was wide open because they doubled (Lupfer).”

McGwire, who finished the game with 21 points and 17 rebounds, didn’t think the ball was going to end up in her hands, either.

“The play was for (Lupfer),” McGwire said. “They doubled her and I came up and thought, ‘Wait a second, I’m open.’ I thought my shot was short. I didn’t think it was going in, but it did.”

The game featured eight lead changes, and New Mexico held five-point leads in the fourth quarter and overtime, and even had a chance to win the game with 1 second left in regulation, but senior Ellie Woerner came up with a stop on the inbounds play.

“We just had to get a stop,” Woerner said about disrupting the inbounds pass under the basket. “We were not about to lose on that possession.”

McGwire, Lupfer (18), Hodgins (14) and A’Shanti Coleman (12) led the way in points for Boise State, and Jayde Christopher added 10 assists and seven rebounds. Woerner finished with eight points and four assists off the bench.

Boise State had gone 4-4 in a nonconference schedule that included long trips to Texas, Kentucky and Alabama. Presnell knew his team had to fight through the fatigue to win its Mountain West opener.

“Our culture is a never-say-die attitude,” Presnell said. “We’ve been across the United States for three weeks in a row against Power Five opponents. (The team) showed the will and grit to get through this.”

Boise State extended its dominance against Mountain West opponents. The Broncos have won 30 of their last 32 games against conference opponents and haven’t lost at home to a conference foe since a 72-68 loss to Nevada on January 17, 2018.

“It didn’t matter how tired we were,” Woerner said. “We were going to start 1-0 in conference. Now they are going to have to chase us through the season.”

Boise State will travel to Colorado State for a game at 1 p.m. Sunday. They will take a break from conference play afterward, facing BYU on Dec. 11 at home.

BOISE ST. 83, NEW MEXICO 82 (OT)

NEW MEXICO (6-2,0-1 MW) Jaedyn De La Cerda 7-13 2-2 19; Jayla Everett 7-16 0-0 16; Jordan Hosey 5-102-4 12; Shaiquel McGruder 6-9 0-0 12; Antonia Anderson 3-7 2-4 9; AhliseHurst 2-10 0-0 6; Bride Kennedy-Hopoat 1-2 2-2 4; Aisia Robertson 2-10 0-04; Najala Howell 0-0 0-0 0; Corina Carter 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 33-79 8-12 82.

BOISE ST. (5-4,1-0 MW) Mallory McGwire 9-14 1-2 21; Riley Lupfer 6-18 0-0 18; Braydey Hodgins 5-161-1 14; A’Shanti Coleman 6-10 0-0 12; Ellie Woerner 3-5 0-0 8; Rachel Bowers3-3 0-0 6; Jayde Christopher 1-5 0-0 2; Jade Loville 1-6 0-0 2; Maggie Freeman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-77 2-3 83.

New Mexico.................... 21 21 22 13 5 — 82

Boise St...................... 27 17 15 18 6 — 83

3-point goals — New Mexico 8-22 (De La Cerda 3-6; Everett 2-4; Hurst 2-9; Anderson 1-2; Robertson 0-1), Boise St. 13-33 (Lupfer 6-15; Hodgins 3-5; McGwire 2-5; Woerner 2-3; Loville 0-1; Christopher 0-3; Coleman 0-1). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — New Mexico 40 (Hosey 8), Boise St. 51 (McGwire 17). Assists — New Mexico 18 (Robertson 6), Boise St. 28 (Christopher 10). Total fouls — New Mexico 9, Boise St. 12. Technical fouls — None. A — 829.

This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 10:56 PM.