Boise State Athletics
Boise State
14-9, 8-4
New Mexico
18-7, 6-6MW
Hermida, Coleman Lead The Way In Win
2/7/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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| Postgame Notes | Postgame Quotes | 
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BOISE, Idaho - New Mexico's trio of Cherise Beynon, Tesha Buck, and Jaisa Nunn combined to score 74 of the Lobos' 85 points Wednesday night, but Boise State (14-9, 8-4 MW) countered with one of its finest team efforts of the campaign as career nights from Marta Hermida (26 points) and A'Shanti Coleman (15) powered the Broncos to a 91-85 win at Taco Bell Arena.
Half of Hermida's output came in the fourth quarter as she went 3-for-4 from the field including 7-for-8 from the line in the final minute to seal up the victory. The Spaniard finished the night 9-of-15 from the field, scoring 20 points in the second half, in addition to four rebounds and four assists. Coleman, meanwhile, made her first start as a Bronco count, going 5-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the line for her 15 points while also matching her career best with eight rebounds.
3Q, 9:28 | Marta Hermida sneaks past the Lobo defense for the easy bucket! The Broncos open the second-half scoring, and take a 43-40 lead! #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/8TTpAJrqcr
- Boise State WBB (@BroncoSportsWBB) February 8, 2018
A wild first three quarters finished with New Mexico (18-7, 6-6 MW) holding a slim 62-61 lead before Boise State, behind Hermida's 13 points and Riley Lupfer's nine, outscored the Lobos, 30-23 over the final 10 minutes. Coleman, Lupfer, and Hermida hit the first three field goals of the quarter for the Broncos, giving them a 67-65 lead with 8:14 left, and Boise State would hold serve the rest of the way, answering every New Mexico challenge.
"Last time, it was a great game all the way to the last three minutes, then they just blew us out. This time I thought we played, maybe for the first time all year, really well down the stretch. We did have a couple of turnovers, but we hit big shots," said Boise State head coach Gordy Presnell.
It began with N'Dea Flye's jumper tying the game up at 67-67 with 6:56 to go before Shalen Shaw, who scored 12 points with five rebounds before fouling out late, hit one of her two fourth-quarter 3-pointers to get Boise State back in front at 70-67. Lupfer hit a trey with 4:44 to go to get the Bronco lead to six at 75-69, and twice over the rest of the contest New Mexico managed to pull within three before the Broncos turned them back each time.
"[Losing Shay Shaw] was hard. But we know that every single player that stepped on the court, they are going to play so good and they are going to give their best. So, we are not scared of foul trouble, we are ready for it, for the next person up," Hermida said.
Right after Lupfer's trey, Nunn converted a three-point play to make it 75-72, but again it was Shaw with the answer from long distance, restoring Boise State's six-point lead with 4:03 to play. Nunn would go on to score seven-straight points beginning with that 3-pointer, but the Lobos had no answer for Lupfer nor Hermida. Lupfer, her usually reliable long-distance game struggling in a 2-for-8 performance from deep, continued to attack the Lobo interior, drawing a pair of fouls and each time converting both free throws to pad the Bronco lead to six at 82-76 with 1:51 to play. She would go on to finish the night with 20 points, going 5-for-5 from inside the arc and 4-for-4 from the line.
4Q, 3:59 | Shay Shaw hits her second 3 of the night, and the Broncos are back up 6! It's 78-72 Broncos! #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/Znmuic38v9
- Boise State WBB (@BroncoSportsWBB) February 8, 2018
Hermida, meanwhile, scored the final nine Bronco points, with the last seven coming from the line. Her pull-up jumper, which stymied New Mexico all game, went down with 1:09 to play to get the Broncos their largest lead of the game at 84-77. Despite desperation treys from Alex Lapeyrolerie and Buck over the final minute keeping New Mexico alive, with the latter making it a three-point game at 88-85 with 13 seconds to go, the Lobos could only foul, then watch helplessly as Hermida calmly sank her freebies to put the game out of reach.
For the game, Boise State shot 53.2 percent, going 33-for-62, and 26-for-46 (56.5 percent) over the final three quarters. That hot shooting helped the Broncos answer a 9-0 Lobo run over the end of the first and beginning of the second quarters that gave New Mexico a nine-point lead at 25-16 with 8:16 left before halftime. From there, the Broncos fought their way back into the contest, with Ellie Woerner scoring five points over a 13-5 run that brought Boise State to within a point at 30-29 with 4:44 left in the half. New Mexico held the Broncos off until the final minute of the half, leading 40-37 with 1:04 remaining, but a layup from Coleman with 41 seconds on the clock, and Tess Amundsen's buzzer-beating drive and layup gave the Broncos a 41-40 lead at the break.
2Q, 0.1 | Tess Amundsen drives and beats the buzzer! Her bucket brings the Broncos back from as many as nine down to take a 41-40 halftime lead! #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/6pfrzeB63S
- Boise State WBB (@BroncoSportsWBB) February 8, 2018
By that time, Beynon, Buck, and Nunn had scored all but four of New Mexico's points by halftime, a trend which continued into the third quarter, where the trio scored 20 of the Lobos' 22 points to push New Mexico to its one-point lead.
Boise State will remain home to close the week, hosting Utah State Saturday at 2 p.m.
