Gordy Presnell nearly threw his arm out of his socket.
The longtime head coach of the Boise State women’s basketball team did so with an emphatic fist pump. He had a lot to be excited about.
The once standard-bearer of the Mountain West Conference that rattled off four consecutive tournament titles only four years ago, took another step in reclaiming its throne. Six-seeded Boise State advanced to the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament for the first time since 2021 with a 62-54 win over No. 3 Wyoming Monday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The Broncos (21-12) will play No. 7 San Diego State (21-12) at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinal round right back inside the Thomas & Mack Center.
“I’m really proud of our players,” said Presnell in his postgame interview with the Mountain West Network. “We had a lot of adversity tonight. And they hit us in the mouth early. We just kept coming back, coming back and we hit big shots.”
None bigger than Natalie Pasco’s corner 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining to all but seal it. Which is what prompted Presnell to bust out the tried, but true celebration in the first place.
The shot by the sophomore guard gave Boise State a 59-50 lead. It was all part of a 15-4 run for the Broncos down the final stretch of regulation that finally broke open the game on either side.
Emily Mellema extended the Cowgirls’ (16-14) lead to 50-47 following a successful trip to the charity stripe with five minutes and 49 seconds remaining. But those would be their last points until another pair of free throws more than five minutes later. Those by Allyson Ferig, however, were really meaningless.
Boise State was up 61-52 with just 15 ticks showing on the clock. It had done so with 14 unanswered points, capped by a free throw from Elodie Lalotte just four seconds earlier. The senior forward had also started the run with a second-chance layup at the 5:13 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Broncos had trailed for most of the game before then. This included being on the verge of falling behind by double digits in each of the three previous quarters. The last of which was a 39-31 deficit on a trey from Wyoming’s Ola Ustowska at the midway point of the third quarter.
But Boise State withstood it each and every time. It wasn’t even deterred when Malene Pedersen’s 3 at the buzzer put the Cowgirls up by four at 44-40 going into the final quarter.
“There’s gonna be hard things that happen and you gotta embrace it,” said Presnell in the postgame press conference. “You can’t back down from it. And I thought that was indicative of what we did tonight. We were behind most of the time and no one folded up.”
Especially Mya Hansen.
For the second time in less than two weeks, the sophomore guard scored at least 20 points. She had an even 20 points on 60% shooting from 3-point range.
Twelve of those points came in the first half when the Broncos were down by at least seven points on five different occasions. But the Billings, Montana native came up big in the fourth quarter, as well. She swished a 3-pointer with 6:34 remaining to give them their first lead since midway through the opening quarter. It was all a part of her 6-point and 3-assist fourth-quarter effort.
“I mean it’s tourney time, Hansen told the Mountain West Network in her postgame interview. “It’s March and that’s what March is all about. I’m just happy to be here and anytime you get a chance to come on this court and play basketball, I’ll take advantage of the opportunity.”
She wasn’t the only one.
Pasco also reached double figures in scoring with 10 points. But Tatum Thompson (nine points), Abby Muse (eight) and Mary Kay Naro (seven), whose corner 3 off an inbounds pass with 2:48 to go, really opened things up for the Broncos at 54-50, all nearly got there, too.
Boise State will now play a San Diego State team that pulled off an upset of its own over No. 2 New Mexico, 67-56, earlier in the night. The two teams split during the regular season. But the Aztecs did win by 25 points in the last meeting before the Broncos closed the regular season with three straight losses.
“We’ve been through the dog days. We’ve been at highs and lows. And I’ve been confident with our team through it all,” Hansen said. “I’m so happy to be with this group. I’ll say it again. I’ve been saying it all season. I’m really confident with our group. I’m confident in each person that they can step up and hit a shot. And you saw that tonight, which I’m so happy for.”
