Boise State Athletics
Monday, March 2
Las Vegas, Nev.
7:00 PM MT
Boise State
22-9,13-5Mountain West
73
vs
50
Air Force
10-21,7-11Mountain West
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Force | 14 | 7 | 17 | 12 | 50 |
| Boise St. | 16 | 23 | 18 | 16 | 73 |
Photo by: Tim Nwachukwu/NCAA Photos
Coleman's Career Night Sends Broncos Into Semis
3/2/2020 10:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LAS VEGAS - The combination of point guard Jayde Christopher and forward A'Shanti Coleman clicked right away Monday night and tore through Air Force's defenses, pacing second-seeded Boise State to a 73-50 quarterfinal victory at the 2020 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Championships.
Christopher passed out 10 assists, in the process setting the Mountain West single-season record with her 244th helper nearly halfway through the first quarter. Currently at 250 assists for the campaign, Christopher eclipsed the previous mark of 243 set by New Mexico's Cherise Beynon in 2017-18.
"I'm excited, but not complacent. I want to continue to keep going. I mean, we still have two games and hopefully some more to play. But I'm going to continue to dish out like I do and just play basketball," Christopher said of the achievement.
Coleman continued her blazing play down the home stretch of the season, scoring a career-high 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting to post her fourth-straight 20-point game. In the process, she became the sixth different Bronco in program history with a streak of at least four 20-point games.
"We thought that it was their fourth game in eight days, and that we would just really push the tempo as much as we could and try to wear them down a little bit," said Boise State head coach Gordy Presnell. "And so we transitioned at every single opportunity. And these two here, Jayde and A'Shanti, are terrific at transition. And Jayde will find you if you're open. And A'Shanti can finish."
The pair got the Broncos (22-9) off to a fast start, as Christopher passed out four assists and Coleman scored six points within the opening four minutes to get Boise State off to a 14-5 lead.
They would again come to the rescue in a game-deciding 19-2, first half-ending run which turned a precarious one-point lead into a 39-21 advantage at the break.
Boise State was in a 1-for-11 shooting slump after a 6-for-7 start, and Air Force (10-21) had climbed to within a point at 20-19 on Riley Snyder's second-chance basket with 6:29 to go in the half. Coleman would answer right away with a 3-pointer, followed by a block of a Cierra Winters layup then a transition bucket on the other end to get the Broncos back up six.
Coleman ran it to nine-straight points before Riley Lupfer, who finished the night 3-for-8 from deep with 11 points, drained a triple to push the lead back to double digits at 32-19. The Broncos finished the half with another triple from Lupfer, this one 16 seconds before the horn, to take the 18-point lead at halftime and set up for a fourth-straight semifinal appearance.
"I definitely think we are definitely at our peak playing-wise. It is a little bit sense of urgency, but coming into the tournament we kind of have a cool mind about it because we have a bunch of people on this team that are pretty experienced, so we don't let that get to us," Coleman said.
Air Force never got closer to 14 the rest of the way. Kaelin Immel led the Falcons with 15 points on the night.
Christopher passed out 10 assists, in the process setting the Mountain West single-season record with her 244th helper nearly halfway through the first quarter. Currently at 250 assists for the campaign, Christopher eclipsed the previous mark of 243 set by New Mexico's Cherise Beynon in 2017-18.
"I'm excited, but not complacent. I want to continue to keep going. I mean, we still have two games and hopefully some more to play. But I'm going to continue to dish out like I do and just play basketball," Christopher said of the achievement.
Coleman continued her blazing play down the home stretch of the season, scoring a career-high 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting to post her fourth-straight 20-point game. In the process, she became the sixth different Bronco in program history with a streak of at least four 20-point games.
Another big performance Monday night for @shantizzzle, scoring a career-high 2️⃣3️⃣ points and becoming the sixth player in program history with a streak of at least four-straight 20-point performances!#BleedBlue | #mwmadness pic.twitter.com/djEImGpfQC
— Boise State WBB (@BroncoSportsWBB) March 3, 2020
"We thought that it was their fourth game in eight days, and that we would just really push the tempo as much as we could and try to wear them down a little bit," said Boise State head coach Gordy Presnell. "And so we transitioned at every single opportunity. And these two here, Jayde and A'Shanti, are terrific at transition. And Jayde will find you if you're open. And A'Shanti can finish."
The pair got the Broncos (22-9) off to a fast start, as Christopher passed out four assists and Coleman scored six points within the opening four minutes to get Boise State off to a 14-5 lead.
They would again come to the rescue in a game-deciding 19-2, first half-ending run which turned a precarious one-point lead into a 39-21 advantage at the break.
Boise State was in a 1-for-11 shooting slump after a 6-for-7 start, and Air Force (10-21) had climbed to within a point at 20-19 on Riley Snyder's second-chance basket with 6:29 to go in the half. Coleman would answer right away with a 3-pointer, followed by a block of a Cierra Winters layup then a transition bucket on the other end to get the Broncos back up six.
Coleman ran it to nine-straight points before Riley Lupfer, who finished the night 3-for-8 from deep with 11 points, drained a triple to push the lead back to double digits at 32-19. The Broncos finished the half with another triple from Lupfer, this one 16 seconds before the horn, to take the 18-point lead at halftime and set up for a fourth-straight semifinal appearance.
Transition game on 💯#BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/8dsGAk84zE
— Boise State WBB (@BroncoSportsWBB) March 3, 2020
"I definitely think we are definitely at our peak playing-wise. It is a little bit sense of urgency, but coming into the tournament we kind of have a cool mind about it because we have a bunch of people on this team that are pretty experienced, so we don't let that get to us," Coleman said.
Air Force never got closer to 14 the rest of the way. Kaelin Immel led the Falcons with 15 points on the night.
Team Stats
USAFA
Boise
FG%
.316
.458
3FG%
.227
.368
FT%
.563
.750
RB
39
36
TO
22
13
STL
9
11
Game Leaders
Pts
23
FGM
10
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
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