Broncos Drop to Lady Rebels, Seeded Fifth in MW Championship

Wednesday, March 4

Las Vegas, Nev.

7:30 p.m.

Boise State

23-8,14-6Mountain West

UNLV

20-10,15-5Mountain West

Boise St.

UNLV

Broncos Drop to Lady Rebels, Seeded Fifth in MW Championship

3/4/2026 9:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Gamebook

LAS VEGAS – Boise State women's basketball suffered a 76-47 loss to UNLV Wednesday night.

Boise State (23-8, 14-6 Mountain West) earned the fifth seed and will play in the first round of the MW Championship against No. 12 San Jose State on March 7.

UNLV (20-10, 15-5) secured the second seed as Shelbee Brown led the effort with 22 points and 16 rebounds.

Boise State won the tip, but Meadow Roland opened the scoring with a layup to give UNLV the early lead. Natalie Pasco grabbed the first points for the Broncos at the 9:28 mark, followed by a layup from Libby Hutton to give Boise State its only lead of the night at 4-3. Brown ended an almost three-minute scoring drought with a layup, reclaiming a 5-4 advantage for the Lady Rebels and starting an 8-0 run.

Pasco ended the surge with a jumper, but Sydni Summers immediately drilled a triple. The Lady Rebels then went on another run, this time 7-0, which ended when Dani Bayes made a jumper. Roland closed out the quarter with two free throws as UNLV led 20-8 after the first.

Brown started the second quarter with two made layups in a row, followed by two free throws from Aayliah Alexander to begin a 6-0 run. Boise State's first points of the quarter did not come until 7:47 remaining when freshman Izzie Harms made a free throw. Harms scored again almost a minute later with a 3-pointer.

UNLV responded with another surge, scoring nine points in a row while Boise State struggled to score for over four minutes. Kenna Garza ended the dry spell with a layup for the Broncos, followed by a Hutton jumper. Emily Howard added a jumper to cap a 6-0 run for Boise State, but UNLV still led 35-18 at the break.

Roland opened the third quarter with a layup, but Hutton quickly responded with one of her own. UNLV followed with an 8-0 surge that left Boise State scoreless for almost three minutes before Hutton added a jumper. Pasco then knocked down a jumper, followed by an offensive rebound and layup from Howard, but UNLV answered with another run. A Hutton layup was countered with five points from the Lady Rebels as UNLV led 56-31 after the third quarter.

UNLV started the final quarter with a triple from Summers. Mason Borcherding added a pair of free throws before the Lady Rebels went on an 11-0 run over two and a half minutes. Josee Steadman threw in two layups to break the Broncos' cold scoring. Harms buried her second triple of the night, and Morgan Maldonado followed with one of her own shortly after. UNLV went on to take the 76-47 victory.

Top Broncos

Libby Hutton collected 12 points and five rebounds.

Notables

Boise State earned the fifth seed in the Mountain West tournament
Head coach Gordy Presnell finished the regular season with 160 MW wins in his career, tied with Colorado State's Ryun Williams for the most in league history.
UNLV won its 11th-straight over Boise State, leading the all-time series 21-12.
Boise State is 6-3 in its blue uniforms.
This marks only the sixth game of the season that the opponent outscored the Broncos.
With her 558th career field goal, Natalie Pasco is now fifth in program history for the category, tied with Tasha Harris (2004-10).
Kenna Garza tied her career-high three rebounds.

Quotables
"We didn't play well," head coach Gordy Presnell said. "We will keep trying and get ready for our game on Saturday. Right now, we will focus on San Jose State and see if we can move forward."

What's Next

No. 5 Boise State will play No. 12 San Jose State in the first round of the 2026 Credit Union 1 Mountain West Women's Basketball Championship. The Broncos will play on March 7 at 3:30 p.m. MT in the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.