MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2025

Gordy Presnell

Tatum Thompson

Dani Bayes

Abby Muse

Thomas & Mack Center

Boise State Broncos

Postgame Press Conference

UNLV - 80, Boise State - 70

GORDY PRESNELL: Congratulations to UNLV. It was a good game. We certainly had our chances. They did a nice job down the stretch of the game. I think they did that at our place, too. We had our chances.

Q. What did Kimpson do well? And obviously Kiara is a tough guard as well, but she was held to 5-of-22. What went into that?

TATUM THOMPSON: I think she's just really good at attacking guards and getting to the hoop and creating her own shot.

ABBY MUSE: From the post end, getting to the rim and drawing the post over and being able to make or dish that. It was definitely a good challenge, a fun challenge playing against both of them.

Q. Tatum, obviously you had 25 points. Three blocks as well. What was the mindset for you going in on the defensive end?

TATUM THOMPSON: I just wanted to win with this group of people. I've we know with them since my freshman year. And I also really wanted to get this win.

Q. 17 turnovers on the night. Just what was going wrong for you guys, or what was UNLV doing well to kind of force those?

ABBY MUSE: I think they sped us up. We had really good pace that we were comfortable with in the first quarter. And then at times after that I think we got flustered and we let them speed us up. And that should not have happened.

Q. Dani to go 0-for-8 last night, obviously you hit big free throws. What was going through your mind to go for 17 today, almost have a triple double?

DANI BAYES: My teammates were super confident in me. I think that helps me to keep shooting it. But just trying to have that aggressive mindset. I knew I had to make shots in order to have a chance at UNLV. So I just came out aggressive.

Q. You had a lead of five going into the fourth quarter. They seemed supercharged in that fourth quarter, ended up winning the game. How hard was it to play back-to-back like this? And was that a factor, the energy in the fourth quarter, at all, playing back to back?

ABBY MUSE: It was tough. But that's also what the tournament's about. And we knew that going into it. And our coaches and all of our support staff, they prepared us very, very well with our recovery and food and sleep and everything.

So we're very appreciative of them in that preparation. But that's what it's about, tournament basketball. You gotta love it.

Q. What was working to get them open looks?

GORDY PRESNELL: We kind of reduced down a little bit, what we were going to do. We had a game plan and we were going to go to Abby on the right block early and try to loosen up their pressure a little bit.

We got some shots, got a back door. I thought we did really well with that.

When they went zone, we ran one thing so everyone was on the same page.

We turned it over early with some of our young ones. We went a little older in the second half.

And then they put up the pressure and turned it up. We just couldn't keep them off the and-ones. They and-oned us down the stretch.

Q. What went into the last four minutes not being able to get a field goal?

GORDY PRESNELL: I don't know. We might have been fatigued a little bit. And credit to them, they might have stepped it up, too. The three guards are extremely athletic and strong.

They play behind the post. We knew we could get into the post anytime. But just didn't get some shots to fall. And then it's a little demoralizing on the other end sometimes. Kimpson is just a tremendous player. She creates her own shot. She can shoot over on the top of you and go around you, shoots the three. She's very good.

Q. We talked about Dani last night. Did you expect a game like that from her today? What stuck out most to you about that?

GORDY PRESNELL: This sounds terrible: Dani's been pretty much up and down the whole season. She was due to be up a little bit. She's always kind of been that way. Hopefully this next year she'll be a little more consistent. But she's hard to stop. She comes off hand-offs really quick and full blast, and she's played a lot of basketball in Australia. So we're fortunate to have her.

Q. I'm curious what you said to your team maybe in the locker room after this game. I think we all thought they played a terrific game and so hard to do it back-to-back like this and on the other team's home court. So what was your takeaway from the game overall, and how did you communicate that to your team?

GORDY PRESNELL: Mostly just appreciative of all of them, and appreciate the eight seniors and our staff and we have a trainer and an SID that are phenomenal. So kind of went through that. Wanted to make sure they see gratitude from me and then also that they have some gratitude too as well.

We thought going into the game that we could win the game. We're up one at our place with a minute 15 to go. We were up one with three minutes to go in the half when we got blown. And we lost our starting guard to a knee injury. We thought she ACLed; she did not. It was kind of demoralizing.

We've played with them for probably, I don't know, I can't add right now, but 97 minutes of 120 or something. It's just been a battle.

I was proud of our kids. I thought our game plan going in was great. I thought they executed it great. And we return our four leading scorers. So need to add some pieces, but I appreciate all of them and what they do and how they represent Boise State. I'm going to throw a plug-in there they're a 3.72 team GPA. If anyone here defines student-athlete, it's our ball club.