MOUNTAIN WEST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 9, 2026

Gordy Presnell

Dani Bayes

Tatum Thompson

Thomas & Mack Center

Colorado State Rams

Postgame Press Conference

Air Force 68, Boise State 66

THE MODERATOR: For Boise State we have Tatum Thompson, Dani Bayes, and Coach Gordy Presnell. Let's get your thoughts on tonight's game.

GORDY PRESNELL: Congratulations to Air Force. They played very, very well, and took us out of our game in terms of defense and the perimeter. I think a week ago we were the No. 2 ranked three-point shooting team in the country, and we only got three off.

I thought we would attack with our posts. We did that. We were 10 for 17 and 5 for 6 with our two post players; we just do it enough. They played all the plays down the stretch; we just did not.

We missed free-throws. We got a five-second call when we were trying to call timeout. Then last play we didn't get a shot off. We had two different opportunities, one down by the basket and one out on the perimeter, and didn't get a shot off.

We have no one to blame by ourselves. But a lot of that is because of Air Force, their physicality, their pressure. They took it out of us early, and then I thought we hung in there, and we had a chance to really make a move, and we didn't.

So the stretch of that game we were not good. We still had a chance to win the game. We didn't take the shot, but we had a chance.

So they did a great job. That's all.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Just for either one of you. That final possession, did everyone know you were only down two? It seemed like Libby got the ball underneath and maybe tried to kick it out for three. What was that final possession like for you guys?

DANI BAYES: I think it was more just trying to get a decent shot up. Yeah, I think -- I mean, we have great shooters, so I think it was just really just trying to get a shot up rather than a three or a two.

But we knew we had to go, and Libby had a great outlet pass, so yeah.

Q. I know you guys are wrapping up a pretty amazing career with Boise State. This is still very raw. I didn't know if you had a chance to reflect on kind of what this season has meant to you guys. I know it wasn't the ending you were hoping for.

DANI BAYES: Yeah, of course not the ending that we wanted, but this place is really special to me. Although this feeling sucks, there isn't anyone else that I would want to be a -- like a team that I would want to be a part of or the coaches. They've just really helped me throughout my journey, so I'm really grateful.

Obviously even though this isn't how we wanted it to end, as I said, there's no one else that I who do it with.

TATUM THOMPSON: Yeah, I would just say the second best thing about playing basketball behind winning is the relationships you get to make along the journey.

THE MODERATOR: We'll let the student-athletes go at this time. Questions for Coach.

Q. What did you see on the final possession there when Libby could have gone back up?

GORDY PRESNELL: She could have gone back up, and then she chucked it out to Mya and Mya could have shot it. She took a dribble and the buzzer, the horn sounded. We had two with really good looks there. Mya's was wide open, and I thought Libby's was wide open, but we didn't get it.

Besides that, there was just -- we had numerous opportunities, and we didn't execute down the stretch. That's a tribute to their physicality, and I say physicality. I don't mean that like negatively. I mean, like, they get in you.

Q. You mentioned the five-second call. Were you over there on the side trying --

GORDY PRESNELL: Trying to call timeout.

Q. How frustrating is it how that played out, because it looked like the ref was right in front of you.

GORDY PRESNELL: Yeah.

Q. Gordy, just how would you describe being the coach of this specific group? Four players over 1,000 points all with BSU. That simply doesn't happen in this realm of college basketball. So how would you kind of try to sum it up of what these ladies have meant to you?

GORDY PRESNELL: It's been a joy. We haven't had any discipline problems. Like I said yesterday, you know, we were No. 2 in the country in academics. The average kid on our program has a 3.81 grade point average. We had a single-digit loss season, which is tremendous.

Not very many teams do that. We were 25-9. I would liked to have finished the season stronger, but I really care about them. I really love them. I love the fact that they want to be at Boise State. I love the fact they exemplify what student-athletes are supposed to be right now. Well, maybe not right now, but what student-athletes are supposed to be.

They're going to be sorely missed. They were just really fun. All the singing and laughing and competing.

Q. Just along those lines, Gordy, it felt like you worked hard to get back to this point with this program, right, and how much better is this place maybe now than it was four years ago when you first got these girls?

GORDY PRESNELL: You know, the administration let me start over when we had some issues, and so we started over. We took these kids for four years. They've done nothing but make us proud.

This is the kind of kid that I want to coach. It's the kind of kid I want to represent Boise State. They got hearts of gold and they're good people.

Q. You could tell how close your program was by looking at your bench throughout a game. It just seems like the girls genuinely like being with each other. Even though you were losing four 1,000 point scorers, how will they help you move forward?

GORDY PRESNELL: Culture is basically -- I'm not trying to lecture anybody, but culture is basically this is the way we do things, and these seniors have pretty much said this is the way we're going to do things. We're not messing up. We're not drinking. We're getting good grades. We're going to represent this program and take it to the next level. I feel like they've done that.

Q. With Libby, 25-7 tonight. You lose all these seniors, but to be able to kind of build around her moving forward here, how exciting is her path here?

GORDY PRESNELL: She's extremely athletic. We were kind of inverted. Our posts are very athletic, and our guards are not quite so athletic.

Also, she's a leader. She's bought in. She wants to be back next year. She's a great kid.

It really hurt us losing Maddie and Millie, our sixth and seventh person for the season. One ACL and one tore ligaments in her ankle and had surgery.

So we were really blessed the starting five didn't get hurt through the course of the year.

Q. Is WNIT or no other options? This is it?

GORDY PRESNELL: If the WBIT would invite us, we would go. Otherwise, we're not interested in the others. We've had a good run and we've done well and I wish we had scored three more points.