Tatum Thompson pulled her jersey over her face.
It was hard to blame her.
The Boise State sophomore’ game-tying 3 with two seconds remaining just fell short. As did the Broncos aspirations’ of making it back to a once familiar place. They dropped a heartbreaking 72-69 contest to San Diego State Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“We didn’t lose it at the end. We missed a screen on the last play. That would have really been nice if we had set that,” said Boise State head coach Gordy Presnell in his postgame press conference. “We lost the game in the first and second quarter turning it over. We had four wide-open 3s that we needed to hit a couple of them.”
The sixth-seeded Broncos (21-13) turned the ball over 10 times to be exact. It all resulted in them being behind 36-29 at the break. And with another five turnovers in the third quarter, the deficit grew to 13 points at 55-42 following a second-chance 3-pointer by San Diego State’s Jada Lewis with two minutes and 31 seconds remaining.
“The intensity at the tournament level is just everyone just tries their hardest and you have to adjust,” Presnell said. “And we got smacked tonight.”
But Boise State responded with a 16-3 run over the next four minutes to tie the game at 58 apiece on a jumper by junior forward Trista Hull at the 8:04 mark of the fourth quarter. The Broncos then took their first lead since the end of the first quarter at 67-65 on a pair of Mya Hansen free throws with just 2:35 to go.
“I think you just play for the girls that you’ve worked so hard with and that you just come together every single play. You don’t break and just hype each other up,” said Hull who finished with eight points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks. “You have each other’s back and I think that’s what led us to cut that lead.”
The No. 7 Aztecs (22-12) took the lead right back at 68-67 just 22 seconds later on a free throw by Abby Prohaska. The Broncos had a few chances at the end to regain it. But they squandered each one of them.
Sophomore guard Natalie Pasco missed a jumper, senior point guard Mary Kay Naro had the ball taken away from her by Prohaska and Pasco passed the ball right into the hands of Lewis all within a minute-span.
Yet, Boise State still had a chance at the end to force overtime.
Thompson was wide-open in the corner. But her shot just hit the back of the iron. The rebound fell right into the arms of Kim Villalobos, who lost her footing and fell over while securing it. Thompson motioned for a travel call. But she didn’t get it as the final horn sounded.
“Those are the type of ball games you want to be in, just those tight ones,” said Hansen who was the only Bronco to reach double figures in scoring with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting. “That’s what makes basketball fun. That’s what makes it interesting and where I find a love for the game.”
While Boise State won’t be back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2020 – the last of its four consecutive Mountain West Tournament titles – there is a shot at the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The Broncos haven’t been there in 16 years.
“They want me and themselves to say the season’s not over,” Presnell said. “They want to hang around until Monday night to see if we get invited. And if we do that, we get to keep playing and get to stay together. But they were adamant about that in the locker room.”
But if not, it’s still the best season for the Broncos in four years. They won 20-plus games for the sixth time in the last decade. And Boise State is expected to bring back all of its key contributors, including all five starters.
