Boise State women win third straight Mountain West title

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Braydey Hodgins scored 16 points to lead Boise State to its third straight Mountain West Conference Tournament title, beating Wyoming 68-51 on Wednesday night.

Hodgins, the tournament’s MVP, hit all six of her field goals, including two 3-pointers, and converted both free-throw attempts. She also had four assists.

Joyce Harrell added 12 points, while Marta Hermida and Jayde Christopher each had 11 points for the top-seeded Broncos (28-4).

Marta Gomez led third-seeded Wyoming (22-8) with 19 points.

Despite hitting their first five field-goal attempts of the second half, the Cowgirls couldn’t make a dent into the Broncos’ halftime lead of 35-23 as Boise State hit its first three 3-point attempts. The Broncos led 57-39 going into the fourth quarter. The Cowgirls cut it to 11 in the fourth, but got no closer.

Boise State outrebounded Wyoming 31-21 and hit all eight free-throw attempts.

The Broncos took the lead for good at 15-13 with 58 seconds left in the first quarter and ended with a 3-pointer from A’Shanti Coleman to make it 18-13.

Boise State slowly pulled away in the second quarter, leading 35-23 at intermission. The Broncos outscored Wyoming in the first half off turnovers, 9-0.

BIG PICTURE

Boise State: The Broncos are the second Mountain West team to win three straight titles in the tournament. New Mexico also won three straight tournament titles from 2003-05. … Hermida, a senior, had a career-high 30 points against Fresno State in the semifinals Tuesday as the Broncos pulled away late to advance.

Wyoming: The Cowgirls were going for their first Mountain West Conference title. They also earned a top-three seed for the third consecutive season, a first for the program. … The Cowgirls were 9 of 11 from the free-throw line. … Gomez finished her career with 124 games played for seventh in program history.

UP NEXT

Boise State: Awaits ranking in the NCAA Tournament

Wyoming: A possible invite to a smaller tournament.