MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2024

Gordy Presnell

Mya Hansen

Natalie Pasco

Thomas & Mack Center

Boise State Broncos

Postgame Press Conference

Boise State 62, Wyoming 54

THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Boise State. We have student-athletes Mya Hansen and Natalie Pasco, Coach Gordy Presnell. Coach, we'll start with you.

GORDY PRESNELL: What a great game, and congratulations to Wyoming on a really great season. It was a great comeback by our players. I thought they persevered.

The fourth quarter we held them to ten points, and we struggled to score this year a lot, and we scored 22 in the fourth.

These two hit huge shots. Mya hit shots all night. And then Mary Kay hit just a tremendous shot from the corner and had maybe her best game of her career.

Excited to get to move on and play in the semifinals. Excited for our team. We've worked really hard, and glad where we're at.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Just take me through the last few minutes, what it feels like to be a part of close games like this and, of course, how it feels to come out on top.

MYA HANSEN: That's March for you. It's a great team to be in. Anytime you can step on that court and be in a tournament game, we'll always take advantage of that and take advantage of that opportunity. I'm just thankful to be on that court and take advantage of those opportunities.

Q. What did you dry to do on the defensive end? How much emphasis was on forcing turnovers, and what did you like most about how you were able to force 20 -- or score 21 points off of 15 turnovers?

NATALIE PASCO: I think coming into this game we were really focusing on defense just getting through those screens. We know they use the shot clock, so we just had to stick through it and just be in position to get those turnovers and build off of it into our offense.

Q. What did you try to do to -- I guess what was the game plan to try to limit what Allyson Fertig was trying to do?

MYA HANSEN: Yeah, I mean, she's a great player. We all know that. She can score at all levels with the ball right now. But just playing -- have a physical presence in the paint. That's for sure. That's what you saw from our posts. So we're thankful they're part of our team and thankful they showed up today, and we're really proud of them.

Q. Mya, what was your mindset coming into this game and just being able to score, I think, ten points in the first quarter and come out with that fire?

MYA HANSEN: Yeah, no game is guaranteed. No next game is guaranteed when you're in the tournament. So just take advantage of the opportunity when you can be here and try to give it my all and play whatever role they needed to be, and today that was a scoring role, so take advantage of that and do what I can to help the team win.

THE MODERATOR: We'll release the student-athletes at this time. Questions for the coach.

Q. What did you like about Mya's mindset, her energy level to start the game? What do you think she did not only for herself to get going, but to get the rest of the team into it too?

GORDY PRESNELL: She hit some big shots, and then we ran some high pick and rolls. She hit some big shots out of that early in the first quarter, and then when we were kind of going south offensively and struggling to score, she hit big shots at that time too.

Our post set good screens for her, and she came off of them and did a nice job.

Q. In the past week or so, what have you done to try to prepare your team for close games like this, and what did you like most about the way they were able to handle it?

GORDY PRESNELL: We have themes and something different almost all the time, and this whole last two weeks have been about embrace hard. That's what it is. There's going to be hard things that happen. You have to embrace it and not back down from it.

I thought that was indicative of what we did tonight. We were behind most of the time, and no one folded up. We embraced hard, and hard things happen, and you just have to deal with them and move on and persevere, and our kids did that tonight.

Even I thought Elodie and Abby didn't play very well in the first half, but they didn't break. They embraced it, and they got better. Same with Nat. It's a great night for us, that's for sure.

Q. You'll take on San Diego State tomorrow, who also pulled off an upset today. Just what makes you excited about that matchup given that you guys are both playing with nothing to lose at this point?

GORDY PRESNELL: We split with them during the season. We both won on each other's courts. They got ahold of us at their place.

Everybody on the floor with them can score and can handle the ball, and they're kind of ballers. It will be a difficult challenge for us. We're not going to worry about it tonight. Coaches will worry about it tonight, but tomorrow we'll get after them and hopefully give it our best shot tomorrow night.