WBB Preview: Utah State Visits Boise For Bronco Senior Day

It’s senior night in Boise, and the Broncos are playing their final Mountain West home game.

It’s also the last time these teams will meet as Mountain West foes in the regular season, and unless their paths cross in Las Vegas, ever. But it’s not the last time they will meet as conference opponents. 

Just as the two schools migrated, more or less together, from the Big West to the WAC, then from the WAC to the Mountain West, they'll begin their next chapter as conference rivals in the Pac-12 next season after closing this chapter this afternoon.

Boise State has largely dominated the extensive history between these schools, especially since a four-game Utah State winning streak from 2010 to 2012. Since then, the Aggies have just matched that number of wins in over a decade, facing off to a 22-4 record in that time. It’s currently a nine-game losing streak for Utah State, bringing the all-time series to 28-12. Utah State is 5-17 away from home in the series, which includes several neutral-site games from the various conference tournaments the teams have met in, but all five wins have happened in Boise, most recently during the 2019-20 season when Utah State won 58-56. 

Last time the Broncos hosted the Aggies, the home team won 72-59, and the time before that, it won 76-41. 

The Aggies are looking to spoil Boise State’s senior night, but it won’t be easy. The Broncos aren’t just looking for a win to honor their departing upperclassmen; they need one for seeding. Right now, the Broncos are knotted up in a second-place logjam with Colorado State and UNLV at 13-5 in conference play.

The Rams, who get Air Force and San Jose State to close out the year, will probably end the season with the same five conference losses they already have. UNLV gets Fresno State first, then the Lady Rebels and Broncos face off in the season finale, so at least one of them will pick up a sixth conference loss and bow out of the second-place race.

Starting a two-game stretch that could be the difference between second and fifth place, Boise State won’t be taking it easy on Utah State. The Aggies played the Broncos close for two quarters earlier this season. Between the second and fourth quarters, the Aggies only gave up a single point of ground, but the Broncos got off to a hot start in both halves and did enough damage in the first and third to get by with a 16-point victory in Logan.

That was the fifth loss in a row for a team still very much in transition, and this game didn’t help. Aaliyah Gayles was back, but barely, and only nabbed two points, a rebound and two assists with her strict minutes restriction. Jamisyn Heaton took a shot to the face in the opening moments of action and checked out with a broken nose and concussion with just one minute logged. She missed the rest of that game and three more, and has been wearing a protective mask on her face in the seven games since her return. Fittingly, today will reportedly be her last game with the mask.

This left Sophie Sene and the team’s two resident chameleons, Elise Livingston and Karyn Sanford, to lead the way for the Aggies. Sene, who will not be playing in today’s matchup, had 16 points and five rebounds. Livingston and Sanford, who have been extraordinary in their ability to change and adapt their roles to contribute on a team that keeps transforming itself, picked up the slack. The shapeshifters combined for 26 points and seven rebounds, with Livingston leading the way with 17 points and three assists, and Sanford pitching in with nine points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals. 

While Livingston and Sene were the only Aggies to reach double figures, the Broncos had four. Sanford was close for the Aggies, but Boise State’s Tatum Thompson was just as close and also had nine points. She was the only Bronco starter in single-digit territory as Dani Bayes dropped 14, Natalie Pasco had 13 with a 3-of-9 shooting clip from deep, Libby Hutton had 11, and Mya Hansen had 10 on only two made field goals – a performance that was buoyed by a 6-of-7 hit rate from the line.

The Aggies played relatively well on the boards and were only outrebounded by a 38-30 margin after losing a leading rebounder early in the game. That will be a point of emphasis for Utah State as the lineup will essentially swap Sene for Heaton.

Another point of emphasis will be slowing down the 6-1 senior from Washington. Thompson is in her fourth year with Boise State and is playing like she wants to finally make a postseason run that has evaded the Broncos during her tenure. 

Her nine-point game against Utah State led to a three-game skid of low scoring. She had six against Fresno in her next outing, then eight against GCU. She nearly broke out of it with a 28-point game against San Jose State, but posted five and eight in her next two contests. Since then, she’s figured it out. She has been averaging 17.4 points per game in her last five games and 8.2 rebounds in her last six. In her last game, a loss to San Diego State, she had 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists and five steals.

She had just nine points, four rebounds, two assists, and no steals against the Aggies, but she is averaging 14.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Playing on senior night, it’s fair to assume that she will be looking to be much closer to her averages this time around, and Utah State might not be able to slow her down. 

Part of the reason it will be difficult to get in Thompson’s way is that the Aggies can’t sell out to stop her without giving up too much to the rest of the team. Names from Gordy Presnell’s squad are plastered all over the conference leaderboards, and Thompson is one of the leaders. She’s the fifth-leading scorer and the fourth-leading rebounder. 

Joining Thompson are a host of Broncos. Hansen is first in the league in assists with 4.3 per game. Pasco and Bayes are first and second in the three-pointers made category. At 1.9 per game, Bayes is in a four-way tie with Mariah Elohim, Malene Pedersen and Hannah Ronsiek, but Pasco stands alone at the top, knocking down 2.5 triples a game. Hutton, who averages 0.9 blocks per game, is tied for fourth in the league.