Broncos Wrap Regular Season Thursday At Air Force

Boise State (24-4, 15-2 MW) at Air Force (8-20, 4-13 MW)
Thursday, March 7 • 7 p.m. MT
USAFA, Colo. • Clune Arena
Series: Boise State leads, 16-1
Last Meeting: Boise State 79, Air Force 48 - Boise, Idaho (Jan. 23, 2019)
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BOISE, Idaho - Boise State, after clinching the outright Mountain West regular-season title and No. 1 seed at March 10-13's conference tournament, closes the regular season Thursday at 7 p.m. at Air Force.

LAST TIME OUT
Boise State captured outright the Mountain West regular-season title with Monday night's 70-66 victory over New Mexico.

On Senior Night, Marta Hermida and Joyce Harrell cut down the Taco Bell Arena nets, as Hermida scored a team-high 18 points with five rebounds, five assists, and two steals, and Harrell grabbed a team-high eight rebounds with five points.

Point guard Jayde Christopher scored seven points with four assists and five steals, including the game-sealing steal with four seconds remaining. Redshirt junior A'Shanti Coleman went 8-for-11 from the field for 17 points.

Thanks to the @MountainWest for having Coach Presnell and @braydeyhodgins in studio today with @JKurtz_MWN!

Keep an eye on the MW Network during next week's tournament to see the interview!#BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/DMY6zraAcD
— Boise State WBB (@BroncoSportsWBB) March 6, 2019

WHO'S NEXT
Boise State closes the regular season Thursday night at Air Force (8-20, 4-13 MW), tipping off at Clune Arena at 7 p.m.

The Broncos have won the past 11 meetings with the Falcons entering Thursday, most recently a 79-48 victory at Taco Bell Arena on Jan. 23.

Air Force is led by the play of Kaelin Immel (13.3 ppg) and Emily Conroe (10.7 ppg).

THE LAST MEETING
Boise State defeated Air Force, 79-48, in the first meeting of the season between the teams on Jan. 23 at Taco Bell Arena.

Four Broncos scored in double digits, led by A'Shanti Coleman, who scored 18 points on 9-for-10 shooting, and Braydey Hodgins, who went for 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including three 3-pointers.

Freshman Jade Loville came off the bench and scored 12 points in the win, and for the game, the Broncos shot 50.7 percent while out-rebounding the Falcons, 51-33.

BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPS
Boise State captured its second-straight Mountain West regular-season title, and first outright, with Monday's 70-66 win over New Mexico. The win also made the Broncos the top seed at next week's (March 10-13) Mountain West Tournament.

It is the sixth regular-season conference crown in program history, but, just the second won outright, joining the 1991-92 Big Sky title.

Four regular-season crowns (1993-94 Big Sky, 2006-07 WAC, 2007-08 WAC, 2017-18 Mountain West) were all shared.

It also marks the second time in program history that Boise State has won back-to-back regular-season titles (2006-07 and 2007-08 WAC).

🎥 Relive history from Monday night, as the Broncos captured their first outright Mountain West regular-season 🏆 in program history!#BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/eb0jUXqfqq
— Boise State WBB (@BroncoSportsWBB) March 6, 2019

TOURNAMENT SCENARIO
With the Mountain West Tournament's No. 1 seed in hand, Boise State will begin play at the event in Monday, March 11's quarterfinal round at 1 p.m. MT.

The Broncos will face the winner of Sunday's 8 vs. 9 game, and heading into Thursday's final gameday of the regular season, there are four possible quarterfinal opponents for Boise State.

If Boise State defeats Air Force Thursday, that will make San Jose State the No. 9 seed. The No. 8 seed will go to the loser of Thursday night's San Diego State-Nevada contest.

COULDN'T SCRIPT A BETTER SENIOR NIGHT
Monday night could not have been scripted any better for Joyce Harrell and Marta Hermida, who played their final regular-season contest at Taco Bell Arena on Senior Night. Besides playing in front of family and friends, the duo helped lead the Broncos to a regular season title-clinching win, and cut down the nets in the postgame celebration.

Hermida scored a team-high 18 points on 8-for-18 shooting along with piling up five rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Harrell once again provided the grit, fighting her way to eight rebounds while adding five points.

Harrell and Hermida will leave Boise State as one of the winningest senior classes in program history, having, through March 4, accumulated a record of 91-33, including two NCAA Tournament appearances, two Mountain West Tournament titles, and a two regular-season Mountain West crowns.

They have also been a part of three-straight 20-win seasons, including the program-best campaign of 2016-17 in which the Broncos won 25 games.

Over their career, Harrell and Hermida have a career record of 49-13 at Taco Bell Arena, including 14-1 this season.

AN ALL-TIME BEST HOME CAMPAIGN
Monday night's win over New Mexico capped a perfect 9-0 home campaign in Mountain West play, Boise State's best home conference mark since joining the MW in 2011-12. It was also just the fourth unblemished home conference mark in program history, and first since an 8-0 record during the 2007-08 WAC season.

Boise State's previous best home mark in Mountain West play was 7-2, done in each of the previous five seasons. The Broncos are now 50-19 all-time at Taco Bell Arena in Mountain West play.

Overall, Boise State finished the regular-season 14-1 at Taco Bell Arena, matching the 2016-17 and 2007-08 Bronco squads for most home wins in a season.

SETTING A CONFERENCE WINS MARK
Monday's win over New Mexico put Boise State at 15-2 in Mountain West play, setting the program benchmark for conference wins in a season.

The previous mark of 14 wins was shared by three Bronco teams: the 2017-18 team which went 14-4 in the Mountain West, the 2007-08 Broncos which racked up a 14-2 record in WAC play, and the 1991-92 Broncos, which went 14-2 in the Big Sky.

MARCH BELONGS TO THE BRONCOS
It's March, which means Boise State is turning up the heat on the rest of the Mountain West. After winning its first two games of the month with wins over UNLV and New Mexico, the Broncos now won 10-straight in March against Mountain West opponents, and 15 of the last 16. Nine of those wins have come over the 3-0 Mountain West Tournament runs in 2015, 2017, and 2018.

HERMIDA SHINES ON SENIOR NIGHT
The performance of guard Marta Hermida on Senior Night Monday was only one in a recent string of big efforts from the Spaniard.

After Monday's 18-point performance against New Mexico, in which she also grabbed five rebounds, had five assists and five steals, Hermida has now scored in double figures in six of Boise State's last seven games. Over that span she is averaging 13.7 points while shooting 40.0 percent and 85.7 percent 18-for-21) from the line.

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Players Mentioned

Jayde Christopher

A'Shanti Coleman

Joyce Harrell

Marta Hermida

Braydey Hodgins

Jade Loville

Boise State Athletics