Boise State women push Mountain West Tournament unbeaten streak to 13 games
The scoreboard and shot clock went out with 2 minutes left in Boise State’s Mountain West Tournament quarterfinal.
Coach Gordy Presnell was worried the delay would cause his team to tighten up. But the Broncos themselves weren’t the least bit affected.
After dancing and laughing their way through the unexpected stop, the sixth-seeded Broncos finished off their upset of No. 3 Colorado State with a 78-65 victory Monday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. Boise State has now won 13 straight tournament games dating back to 2017.
“I thought they were pretty relaxed. A lot more relaxed than I was,” Presnell said. “I was thinking: ‘Oh man, everyone’s gonna get tight. They’re gonna hit a couple 3s and it could go south.’ I’m the eternal pessimist, but they stayed positive.”
Junior guard Jade Loville, an All-Mountain West first-team selection, paced the Broncos with 29 points, four assists and three rebounds. Loville was 12-for-25 from the floor, and her 12 made field goals and 25 attempts each tied Mountain West Tournament single-game records and established records for a junior.
“Coming into this year, I’ve kind of had to switch roles,” Loville told the Mountain West Network in a postgame interview. “Last year, I was coming off the bench. This year, I’m starting and I’m having to lead 10 freshmen. With the help of (redshirt senior) Mallory (McGwire) and (junior) Rachel (Bowers), we’ve been able to coach up the freshmen, and they’ve really stepped into the role of just coming here and going all out, so shout-out to them.”
Freshman forward Alexis Mark added a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Broncos, and freshman guard Anna Ostlie contributed 11 points and six rebounds off the bench. Fellow freshman point guard Mary Kay Naro totaled eight points, seven rebounds and a team-leading five assists.
“I think it’s do-or-die time, and they have great willpower,” Presnell said of his freshmen. “… They’re pretty good, and down the road here, as they mature and we work with them a little bit in skill development, they’re gonna be great players for Boise State.”
Boise State (14-8) draws Wyoming (12-9) in the semifinals at 8:30 p.m. MT on Tuesday at Thomas & Mack. It will be the Broncos’ fifth consecutive appearance in the semifinals. The game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network, which is available at themw.com/watch.
The 6 p.m. MT semifinal features No. 1 New Mexico (15-3) vs. No. 4 Fresno State (15-9).
The seventh-seeded Cowgirls have already won two games at the tournament, defeating No. 10 Utah State 69-41 in the first round and upsetting No. 2 UNLV 72-56 in the quarterfinals with a tournament-record 15 triples.
Boise State swept Wyoming in a two-game series in January in Boise. The Broncos won 68-61 and 68-62.
“I always say not to settle, so we’ve got to look at every game like it’s a new game and don’t dwell on the past — win or lose,” Mark said. “I also think that the people who left a legacy before us, they gave us a big role to fill in, but we all play differently and we’re filling in the roles slowly.”
Last Friday, this year’s Broncos received a video message from some of the program’s former players, emphasizing the legacy and tradition the school has established having won the last four league tournament titles. Boise State has now gone 1,826 days since its last loss in the tournament.
“That video, I got the chills when I was watching them play in the tournament. A’Shanti (Coleman) hit a layup at the buzzer (to win the 2018 title),” Mark said. “I just pictured us up there, too. I know they leave a legacy, and I also know that we can do the same thing.”
Colorado State rolled the Broncos in two games at ExtraMile Arena earlier this season, winning by 20 and 22 points, as Boise State had two of its worst shooting performances of the season.
The Broncos had no such troubles Monday night thanks to the monster performance from Loville and scoring contributions from nine of the 10 Broncos who logged playing time. Boise State shot 46.5% from the floor and shut the door on the Rams by shooting 69.2% (9-for-13) in the fourth quarter.
Colorado State held its final lead of the game at 49-47 with 2:43 remaining in the third quarter after Rams senior Lore Devos dropped 17 of her 26 points in the frame. A turnaround jumper from Bowers — playing her first game for the Broncos in nearly a month — tied it at 49-all, and Mark put BSU in front, 51-49, heading into the fourth quarter.
Presnell told Mark she’d be in charge of guarding Devos in the fourth quarter, and Mark made sure Devos never scored again. Devos had 999 career points entering the fourth quarter, and that’s exactly where she stayed.
“I like a challenge. I like guarding the best players,” Mark said. “We knew that (Devos) was scoring a lot … and I knew that she couldn’t get another shot off. I just defended. As coach likes to say: ‘Stay in a stance.’ So I just stayed in a stance.”
Note: Centennial High graduate Tori Williams started for Colorado State. She finished with 14 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals in 38 minutes. … With eight blocked shots against the Rams, Boise State has 141 blocks this season. The program record is 146 blocks, set over 33 games by the 2014-15 squad.
BOISE ST. 78, COLORADO ST. 65
BOISE ST. (14-8)
Jade Loville 12-25 5-9 29; Anna Ostlie 3-7 2-4 11; Alexis Mark 5-13 1-2 11; Mary Kay Naro 2-7 4-7 8; Abby Muse 3-4 0-0 6; Mallory McGwire 2-3 0-0 5; Rachel Bowers 2-4 0-0 4; Kimora Sykes 1-3 0-0 2; Cristina Gil 1-1 0-0 2; Elodie Lalotte 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-68 12-22 78.
COLORADO ST. (15-6)
Lore Devos 11-17 0-1 26; Tori Williams 4-16 3-4 14; Jamie Bonnarens 3-8 0-2 7; Ellie Boni 3-9 0-0 6; Petra Farkas 2-4 0-0 4; McKenna Hofschild 2-3 0-0 4; Karly Murphy 1-8 0-0 2; Cali Clark 1-5 0-0 2; Sydney Mech 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-71 3-7 65.
Boise St...................... 16 18 17 27 — 78
Colorado St................... 19 10 20 16 — 65
3-point goals — Boise St. 4-9 (Ostlie 3-5; McGwire 1-1; Sykes 0-2; Loville 0-1), Colorado St. 8-20 (Devos 4-6; Williams 3-7; Bonnarens 1-4; Mech 0-1; Boni 0-2). Fouled out — Boise St.-None, Colorado St.-Hofschild. Rebounds — Boise St. 51 (Mark 13), Colorado St. 33 (Murphy 6; Devos 6). Assists — Boise St. 15 (Naro 5), Colorado St. 17 (Williams 8). Total fouls — Boise St. 10, Colorado St. 17. Technical fouls — None.
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 10:56 PM.
