Christopher, Lupfer Named All-Mountain West

BOISE, Idaho - Redshirt senior point guard Jayde Christopher and senior guard Riley Lupfer were each named to the All-Mountain West Team, the conference announced Sunday. Christopher was also voted to the five-player Mountain West All-Defensive Team.

The All-Mountain West Teams are voted on by the conference's coaches, and only take into account performance over the 18-game conference slate.

For Lupfer, it is her third-straight selection, joining Lidiya Varbanova (All-Big Sky, 1991-94) and Tricia Bader (All-Big Sky, 1993-94, '96) as the only Broncos in program history to claim at least three first-team all-conference honors.

Christopher earned her first All-Mountain West honor thanks to a record-setting campaign in which she leads the Mountain West with 148 assists at a clip of 8.22 per game. For the season, she ranks second in the country with 240 assists and 8.00 per game, and needs just four more to set the Mountain West single-season record, which currently stands at 243, established by New Mexico's Cherise Beynon in 2017-18.

She set Boise State's single-season mark, as well, eclipsing the previous record of 192 held by Yaiza Rodriguez (2016-17) Feb. 12 at Air Force.

Christopher also averaged 6.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, and shot 86.2 percent from the line over conference play. She posted four games in which she scored in double figures, and seven in which she hit double figures in assists, topping out with 13 against Air Force on Jan. 15. Twice, she posted points-assists double-doubles, doing it in consecutive games Feb. 19 and 22 against San Jose State and New Mexico, respectively. She scored 14 points in each contest, while passing out 12 assists against the Spartans and 10 against the Lobos, en route to being named the Mountain West Player of the Week on Feb. 24.

The Federal Way, Wash., native also made 32 steals to bolster the Bronco defense.

Lupfer ended the conference campaign with style, posting three 20-point efforts and averaging 18.3 points per game over the final seven contests. Over that span, the Spokane, Wash., native hit at least five 3-pointers in five of those contests, going 33-for-64 (51.6 percent) from deep.

Over the 18 conference contests, Lupfer averaged a team-best 13.4 points and shot 41.1 percent from behind the arc, leading the Mountain West with 60 triples. Overall, she scored in double figures in 13 games, and hit at least six 3-pointers in four.

Boise State (21-9) claimed the No. 2 seed at this week's 2020 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Championships, and will open play in Monday's quarterfinals at 7 p.m. MT against the winner of Sunday's first-round game between No. 7 Air Force and No. 10 Colorado State.

2020 All-Mountain West Teams and Awards

All-Mountain West
Jayde Christopher, Boise State
Riley Lupfer, Boise State
Ayzhiana Basallo, SJSU
Haley Cavinder, Fresno State
Hanna Cavinder, Fresno State
Kaelin Immel, Air Force
Sophia Ramos, San Diego State
Maddi Utti, Fresno State
Tereza Vitulova, Wyoming
Rodjanae Wade, UNLV

All-Mountain West Honorable Mention
Essence Booker, Nevada
Taylor Kalmer, San Diego State
Tyra Whitehead, San Jose State

Mountain West All-Defensive Team
Jayde Christopher, Boise State
Andrea Brady, Colorado State
LaTecia Smith, UNLV
Bailey Thomas, UNLV
Maddi Utti, Fresno State

Mountain West All-Freshman Team
Isis Beh, UNLV
Haley Cavinder, Fresno State
Hanna Cavinder, Fresno State
Dom Phillips, Nevada
Jaeden Vifanua, Wyoming

Mountain West Player of the Year: Maddi Utti, Fresno State

Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year: Bailey Thomas, UNLV

Mountain West Newcomer of the Year: Ayzhiana Basallo, SJSU

Mountain West Freshman of the Year: Haley Cavinder, Fresno State

Mountain West Sixth Person of the Year: Marlene Aniambossou, Utah State

Mountain West Coach of the Year: Jaime White, Fresno State

Boise State Athletics

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Jayde Christopher

Riley Lupfer

Yaiza Rodriguez

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