Bronco Hopes Rattle Out Against Lady Bears

Sunday, November 10

Boise, Idaho

2:00 PM MT

Boise State

2-1,0-0Mountain

Missouri State

3-0,0-0MVC

Missouri St.

Boise St.

Photo by: NCAA Photos

11/10/2019 5:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Postgame Notes Postgame Quotes

BOISE, Idaho - Riley Lupfer crouched and slammed her hands on the ExtraMile Arena floor. Her potential game-tying 3-pointer had rattled in and out at the buzzer, and the senior's rare show of on-court emotion at the miss reflected Boise State's frustrations with its own miss at a statement victory, as Missouri State escaped with the 72-69 Preseason WNIT quarterfinal win.

"I don't really let anger come out like that, but yeah I was pretty mad," Lupfer said postgame. "I hit the same shot right before that and I thought that last shot was going down. If you're a shooter you know what rimming out feels like, it's probably the worst feeling for a shooter."

An evenly-matched, back-and-forth contest that had the feel of a March showdown came down to the last shot, but the Broncos were left to rue missed opportunities, such as a 7-for-13 showing from the free-throw line. Take away Lupfer's 5-for-12 showing from deep, and the rest of the Broncos were 3-for-16 Sunday.

The Broncos (2-1) will play a consolation game to wrap their participation in the tournament either next Friday, Nov. 15, or Saturday, Nov. 16, at a site and against an opponent to be determined following the end of the quarterfinal round Monday night.

The game's lead changed for the ninth and final time when Missouri State's Abby Hipp grabbed an offensive rebound and found an open Brice Calip for the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4:36 to play, putting the Lady Bears up, 65-62. Mya Bhinhar would follow a Lupfer miss from deep with a jumper to extend the lead to five.

Boise State would twice get to within a point, but each time the Lady Bears (3-0) had an answer. Mallory McGwire, whose double-double featured career-bests of 19 points (on 9-for-16 shooting) and 17 rebounds, hit a jumper with 2:20 to play and Braydey Hodgins added a pair of free throws with 1:25 to go to make it 67-66.

The Broncos, however, couldn't come up with a stop on the defensive end, as, following a Jayde Christopher foul, Bhinhar found Hipp for a short bucket off glass out of the inbound to get the lead back to three. Lupfer would follow an Emily Gartner free throw with a 3-pointer, her fifth of the game, to make it 70-69 with 12 seconds to go.

Forced to foul, the Broncos sent Bhinhar to the line, where she made both before Lupfer's final attempt missed.

"I think there's a lot we can learn from it. It's certainly not a moral victory, we thought we could win and that we could advance in this tournament. But overall I thought we played pretty hard," said Boise State head coach Gordy Presnell.

Lupfer would finish with 18 points, 14 coming in the opening quarter. Calip led Missouri State with 17 points with Hipp adding 14 on 7-for-7 shooting. Jasmine Franklin grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Lady Bears.

The first quarter featured Lupfer hitting four 3-pointers and scoring 14 of Boise State's 18 points, as the teams traded the lead five times in the frame en route to an 18-18 stalemate.

The Broncos looked to be taking control of the game with a 9-0 run over 2:11 halfway through the second quarter. Trailing 23-20, Boise State got a 3-pointer from Jade Loville, followed by buckets from Hodgins, Jayde Christopher, and McGwire to take a 29-23 lead. But the Broncos would end the final 5:23 of the half in a cold spell, going 1-for-7 with three turnovers, allowing Missouri State to go on a 15-2 half-ending run behind four points from Bhinhar to take a 38-31 lead at the break.

Boise State fought back valiantly, however. McGwire, limited to four points in the first half while on the bench with foul trouble, scored 13 of her points in the final 20 minutes, beginning with seven in a half-opening 13-4 run that put the Broncos in front, 44-42.

Missouri State would get the lead back to seven, and take a six-point lead at 58-52 after three, before the Broncos fought back yet again to tie the game at 62-62 with 5:08 to play.

"I know they are a good team, this is a stepping stone for us and not a stepback. This gives us more momentum for the next high-seeded team that we face next," McGwire said.