Boise State fails to win Mountain West Tournament game for first time since 2016
The Boise State women’s basketball team isn’t accustomed to playing on the opening day of the Mountain West Tournament, let alone going home.
But for the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Broncos failed to win at least one game at the conference tournament, falling 65-56 to seventh-seeded San Diego State in the first round Sunday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Broncos entered the game having gone 16-2 in tournament play over the past seven seasons, including five tournament championships.
“We have a lot of work to do in the spring and summer,” Boise State coach Gordy Presnell said. “… (We were) 16-2 in our last 18 games in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. That’s certainly something to be proud of and a legacy left by former players, but there’s only one player left from that team, and that’s Rachel (Bowers).
“It’s time for a new culture, and we know the path. We feel like we have some terrific pieces, and we’re adding some really great players. We hope to be here — Well, not here today — but hopefully sitting in front of you on a different day next year.”
Bowers, a senior from Newhall, California, joined the Broncos in 2018-19 while they were in the midst of winning four consecutive Mountain West Tournament championships from 2017 through 2020.
But the Broncos (8-21) have come up short each of the past two seasons, and this year’s squad finished with the fewest wins since Boise State went 8-19 during the 1980-81 season.
“This year was definitely a year of growing pains and learning,” Boise State sophomore Abby Muse said. “I think it just showed a lot of our character. We stayed together as a team. We didn’t turn on each other and we didn’t quit even though our season was not great, by any means.
“I think it just points to our determination and the fact that we’re willing to learn and grow and to continue the legacy that was started years ago with Coach P and previous teams to continue that moving forward into next year.”
The Aztecs, who split with the Broncos during the regular season, went into the game hoping to neutralize Boise State’s inside game and force Boise State to win it from deep. The strategy worked.
Boise State shot just 29% from the floor in the first half (9-for-31) and fell behind by as many as 10 points in the first quarter. The poor start combined with an inconsistent performance from 3-point range (4-for-17) doomed the Broncos, who lost their final seven games of the season. Boise State made two of its four 3-pointers in the final 1:05 of the game.
“Boise is a really good team. They gave us a hard-fought battle,” San Diego State coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said. “We struggled with them at Boise with their post play, and I thought we did a really good job trying to neutralize that strength. They’re so good, so much taller than us.”
San Diego State redshirt freshman Asia Avinger sliced through the Boise State defense for 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting. In three games against Boise State this season, the 5-foot-7 guard amassed 63 points.
“Just as hard as it is for us to match up with them (inside), I think it’s challenging to match up with us. They play a bigger brand of basketball,” Terry-Hutson said. “They switched out on (Avinger) sometimes, and she’s able to get downhill, so that was beneficial for us.
“But it’s just two different styles of play. She’s such a competitor. She can get downhill. She can finish. She’s proven that she can make the extra pass and how people are guarding her now is they’re just kind of sagging off and making her hit jump shots. I thought she came out in the first half and hit a couple (jump shots) to make them respect her there.”
Despite the early deficit, Boise State did fight back and pull within a single possession on three occasions in the fourth quarter. An Elodie Lalotte free throw cut the deficit to 50-47 with 4:27 to play, but the Aztecs responded with an 11-1 run to squash the 10th-seeded Broncos’ upset bid.
Sophomore Anna Ostlie paced Boise State with 15 points, while Mary Kay Naro added 11 points, four rebounds and three assists, and Lalotte had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Boise State’s season comes to an end with the loss. Fifteen of the 16 players on this year’s roster are eligible to return for the 2022-23 season after the NCAA granted players an extra year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only redshirt senior Dominique Leonidas is out of eligibility.
“I’m really excited about next year’s team,” Muse said. “Like I said, this was a growth year for us, so I think now that we kind of have our feet under us and we’re only losing Dom, which is a huge loss for us, but another opportunity for someone to step up and to build something really special.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 7:23 PM.
