BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…March 10, 2017, five years ago today:
The Boise State women’s basketball team wins the Mountain West Tournament for the second time in three seasons, defeating Fresno State 66-53 in the final. BSU’s Brooke Pahukoa was also the tournament’s MVP for the second time in three years — she led the Broncos with 17 points against the Bulldogs. The win was Boise State’s 25th of the season, a program record, and its 10th in a row. It sent them into the NCAA Tournament against UCLA in Pauley Pavilion the following week. Boise State had beaten New Mexico in the 2015 Mountain West final, and the Broncos would win the title the following three seasons as well.
Coach Gordy Presnell’s best squad of the run was probably the 2018-19 group that downed Wyoming 68-51 in the championship game and went on to a near-upset of Oregon State in the NCAA Tournament. The underwhelming No. 13 seed handed to the Broncos will stick in their craw for a long, long time. Boise State held a four-point lead over fourth-seeded OSU with 17 seconds left in the game in Corvallis. A questionable jump-ball call helped the Beavers get the game to overtime, where they won 80-75. The Broncos’ last title came in 2020 via an overtime win over Fresno State. They didn’t get to play in the NCAA Tournament, as the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out all sports a week later.
Presnell was capping his 30th season as a head coach — and 12th at Boise State — when the Broncos won it all in 2017. That means 35 seasons overall and 17 at Boise State with the campaign just completed on Monday in Las Vegas. Presnell won 395 games in 18 seasons at Seattle Pacific before taking the reins of the Broncos’ program in 2005, and he’s won another 317 since. His overall record is 712-338.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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