It only took one season for the freshmen on the Boise State women’s basketball team to make a lasting impression on college basketball.
Freshman guards Mya Hansen, Tatum Thompson, Natalie Pasco and Dani Bayes all had dominant performances throughout this season by achieving unprecedented accomplishments and setting high expectations for the future.
Elise Ledesma | The Arbiter
“They’re a really competitive group,” said junior guard Mary Kay Naro when asked about the freshmen. “They care a lot about the team and playing hard. It’s nice to have people like that coming in, ready to go and ready to play. It’s easy to see that they make an impact when they come in.”
Boise State is the only team in the Mountain West to have three different freshmen receive Mountain West Freshman of the Week honors in the same season. On top of this, Bayes received the award two times this season, and Pasco received it four times.
Hansen, a former Montana Gatorade Player of the Year in high school, earned her weekly accolade after setting a career-high of 31-points against BYU on Dec. 5. Hansen has also earned a starting position multiple times throughout her debut season.
Bayes proved herself as an offensive threat and a consistent scorer for Boise State this season. The Brisbane, Australia, native holds a career-high 19 points and earned a Freshman of the Week title against San Jose State.
She shared her second freshman of the week title with San Jose State guard Sabrina Ma after matching her career-high 19 points against Fresno State on Jan. 19.
Pasco earned her fourth Freshman of the Week after scoring a career-high 29 points against Utah State on Feb. 20. She is one more award away from tying Wyoming’s Allyson Fertig for the most Freshman of the Week awards this season.
“I wasn’t really expecting it,” Pasco said when asked about these accomplishments. “It’s super awesome. But I want to just keep getting better from here.”
Although Thompson is the only freshman to not receive the award this season, she said that she plans on earning these honors by the end of the season.
Thompson suffered an ankle break early in the season during a scrimmage against Idaho State University. Since being back on the court, Thompson has shown that she is ready to win the award by setting a career-high of 19 points against UNLV on Feb. 11.
