Familiar struggles of turnovers and cold shooting doomed the Boise State Broncos women's basketball team Saturday afternoon in Fresno. Toss in the failure to stop Bulldog star Mia Jacobs and the recipe for a loss was complete.
Despite a career game from Boise State junior Tatum Thompson, the Broncos (12-6, 2-3) fell on the road to the Bulldogs, losing 68-62.
Jacobs, who entered the game averaging 18 points and 9.8 rebounds, delivered for Fresno State. The junior dropped a game-high 30 points, adding 10 rebounds for good measure. Jacobs did nearly half her damage at the charity stripe, connecting on 13 of 15 attempts.
The loss was only six points and if Boise State had taken better care of the ball, this outcome would have been different. The Broncos finished with a slightly better field goal percentage than the Bulldogs but a huge made free throw advantage (+11) and long stretches of not scoring hampered Boise State.
So, too, did a normally balanced scoring attack that saw only five players score. Three of the players combined for 57 points, led by Thompson. Thompson, who had a previous career-high of 21 last season in Fresno, bettered that today, finishing with 24 points and 16 rebounds.
Natalie Pasco scored 20 points off the bench, with Mya Hansen earning a start and scoring 13.
The Broncos also outrebounded Fresno State (11-6, 2-2) by six but the Bulldogs committed only nine turnovers.
Boise State first half woes
Thompson appeared on track for a fantastic game right from the get-go, scoring the game's first five points in staking the Broncos to a 5-0 lead.
Both teams struggled after an early Bulldog bucket made the score 5-2. Fresno State went nearly four minutes without scoring before two free throws made the score 5-4.
Boise State's drought was much longer, lasting over six minutes, where the team missed nine straight field goals. Thankfully, Fresno State hadn't done much themselves and the Dani Bayes three-pointer gave the Broncos an 8-7 lead.
Foul trouble also hurt the Broncos in the first half, with Elodie Lalotte picking up her second later in the first quarter and Thompson her second foul early in the second. Abby Muse also picked up her second foul with 2:38 left in the half.
With the teams knotted at 12 after the first quarter, a baseline jumper by Thompson gave the Broncos a 14-12 lead.
Three ties and five lead changes highlighted the first half, but Fresno State stretched their lead to as many as seven late in the half. Boise State was able to grab late points and trailed heading into the locker room, 31-27.
Boise State had 12 first half turnovers and stayed close thanks to decent three-point shooting (4-10) compared to Fresno State (2-18).
Pasco had 11 first-half points, with Thompson scoring nine.
Second half
The Broncos settled down in the second half, forcing less crosscourt passes and less of trying to do too much in individual matchups. This led to only five second-half turnovers while forcing Fresno State into six.
Still, early in the half Boise State missed six straight field goal attempts after Thompson hit a shot to open the half. Boise State hung around, eventually retaking the lead at 36-34.
Four of Boise State's five second-half turnovers occurred in the quarter, many during a 14-2 run put together by Fresno State. This roughly five-minute stretch to close the third quarter essentially sealed the game for the Bulldogs, with their lead growing to as large as ten points.
Entering the fourth quarter, Boise State was down 48-40. Hansen connected on a couple of three-pointers, each time shrinking the Fresno State lead to five. But the Bulldogs responded with stops and scores of their own, even getting the lead back to ten.
A Thompson bucket made the score 57-54 but that was as close as the Broncos got the rest of the way.
The lack of balanced scoring for the Broncos also showed up in the assist column, where Boise State finished with only five. The team entered the game averaging 14.6 assists per game.
Hansen was 3 of 10 from the field and Muse, Lalotte, Bayes and Mary Kay Naro were a combined 2 of 13.
Boise State dropped to 1-2 on the road in conference play this season. The Broncos return home next week for games with San Jose State (1/15) and Nevada (1/18).
More on Boise State women's basketball 2024-25:
- Broncos off to glorious start
- Boise State drops close one to UNLV
- Galloping full throttle towards 2025
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