Here’s what’s happening in Boise State Athletics…
MEN’S BASKETBALL
The Boise State men’s basketball team had a jam packed weekend full of conference play against some of the most formidable opponents yet.
With a 68-64 loss to University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the Broncos snapped a 22 home win streak and lost possession of the longest home win streak in the nation.
However, in one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the year, the Broncos came up big against San Diego State University and downed the Aztecs 67-66.
Read more about the matchups here.
GYMNASTICS
Boise State gymnastics team has had a busy week full of honors and raising the bar for Mountain West Gymnastics.
To kick off the week, Emma Loyim, a junior on the Boise State gymnastics team, was named the Ford Boise State Student-Athlete of the Week.
Loyim was the floor champion at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad, tying the program record with a score of 9.950. This is the highest score a Mountain West gymnast has recorded this season.
The victory marked the junior’s fifth career win, with two coming on floor. Her effort helped the Broncos defeat No. 16 Nebraska and No. 33 North Carolina at the nationally-televised meet.
Loyim was also named MW Floor Specialist of the Week. This is her second career weekly conference award and first for floor.
To go along with Loyim’s awards, Victoria Smirnov was named Co-Freshman of the Week after notching an impressive 9.850 on bars and senior Emily Lopez garnered Bars Specialist of the Week with a 9.900.
To go along with the accolades, the Boise State gymnastics team rallied in the final rotations to sweep its season-opening quad, scoring 195.800 to defeat San Jose State University (195.625), Air Force (194.975) and West Chester (191.825) on Jan. 19.
The Broncos’ three wins gave head coach Tina Bird her 250th career victory, reaching the milestone in front of a crowd of 2,106 at ExtraMile Arena.
“I am so thrilled to have earned my 250th career win with this incredible team,” Bird said. “And I’m proud of our beam team tonight. They attacked the event with confidence and really showed what they’re capable of. Emma’s (Loyim) personal best was so much fun to watch.”
The Blue and Orange scored a season-high 48.925 on vault to take the lead after one rotation, with senior Courtney Blackson recording a 9.900 to tie for first. Despite Lopez winning on bars with a 9.950, Boise State fell to third after the event.
The Broncos began their climb on the beam rotation, tallying a season-best 49.325. Lopez and Loyim both notched a 9.925 to top the leaderboard and move Boise State into second.
In the final rotation, Boise State scored a 49.175 on floor, as Elaina McGovern tied for second with a 9.900, matching her career-high. The Broncos topped SJSU to secure the quad sweep.
Lopez had herself a night as she recorded a season-best in all three of her events, scoring a 9.950 on bars, 9.925 on beam, and 9.800 on vault. Blackson scored a 9.900 on bars and vault, both season-highs.
“Emily Lopez and Courtney Blackson had a stellar night,” Bird said. “Alyssa Vulaj continues to turn in high scores for us in vault, beam and floor and Sydney Kho had two solid events with a career-high mark on beam, which is such an important milestone.”
The Broncos are now 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West this season.
Boise State has a weekend off before returning to ExtraMile Arena for a dual against Iowa State. The Broncos and Cyclones will compete at 7 p.m. on Feb. 2.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
The Boise State women’s basketball team had a stellar week with two clutch wins against both San Jose State University (SJSU) and Utah State University (USU).
With a reverse layup with 21 seconds left, Mya Hansen led the Broncos to a 68-64 win over SJSU on Jan. 17 at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
“I felt great about how we played the final two or three minutes,” head coach Gordy Presnell said. “We’ve held on twice in a row now. We had a really poor third quarter where we gave up a lot of points and didn’t establish our offense at all.”
Natalie Pasco scored a game-high 18 points in the win, and finished 7-of-9 from the floor.
Elodie Lalotte also had her fair share of production as she poured in 17 points. Hansen rounded out the trifecta with 12 points for the Broncos.
Abby Muse also had a historic night as she notched six rebounds in the contest to move into fourth place all-time in program history with 806 career rebounds. The senior passed Marla Curtis (1981-85), who finished her career with 804 rebounds.
On Jan. 20, Boise State women’s basketball used a dominant second quarter on its way to defeat Utah State, 76-41 at ExtraMile Arena.
Three Broncos scored in double figures in the contest, led by 16 points from Dani Bayes. Abby Muse matched her season-high with 15 points, while Tatum Thompson added 12 off the bench.
“Dani and Tatum did a nice job of getting us going,” Presnell said. “They hit a lot of shots early. The rim got a little big for us and we just continued to hit shots. It’s a good win for us.”
Boise State picked up its fourth-straight win, tying its longest win streak of the season.
The Broncos will wrap up their two-game homestand on Jan. 24 as they are set to face off with No. 23 UNLV. The contest is scheduled to tip off at 6:30 p.m.
MEN’S TENNIS
Boise State men’s tennis opened the team dual season by sweeping a doubleheader on Jan. 20 at the Boas Indoor Tennis Center, defeating Idaho State 6-1 in the afternoon, followed by a 7-0 victory over Lewis-Clark State in the evening.
Boise State rallied from one point down to defeat Idaho State 6-1 in the season opener. After dropping the doubles point 2-1 – with both losses coming in tiebreakers – the Broncos came back strong in singles, sweeping all six contests to cruise past the Bengals.
Idriss Haddouch recorded the first singles victory of the day at the sixth position winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, followed by wins from John Chin and James Van Herzeele. Sam Sippel clinched the team victory in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, on court one.
The Broncos completed the doubleheader sweep Saturday evening with a shutout 7-0 victory over Lewis-Clark State. The Blue and Orange opened by sweeping the three doubles matches, then followed by claiming all six singles contests for the second time on the day.
Teague Burger and Kyvan Rietkerk clinched the team doubles point with their 6-4 victory on court three.
In singles, Van Herzeele was the first off the court with a two-set 6-0, 6-2 win at the number one position. The match-clinching victory came on court four, where Liam Toroman won in straight sets 6-0 and 6-1.
The Broncos will be back in action on Jan. 26-28 when they travel to Columbus, Ohio, for the ITA Kickoff Weekend, where they will open with Oregon, and then face either Ohio State or Vanderbilt.
