Marta Hermida’s 30 points lead Boise State to MW title game
Boise State’s Marta Hermida was lighting up Fresno State, scoring 22 points with just less than three minutes left in the third quarter when she picked up her third foul.
And sat for nearly eight minutes.
So much for going with the hot hand, but Broncos coach Gordy Presnell doesn’t rely on just one player, and his spread-the-wealth system has worked. Top-seeded Boise State improved to 27-4 after beating the No. 4 Bulldogs 89-77 on Tuesday in a Mountain West women’s tournament semifinal.
The Broncos will try to win their third consecutive tournament championship and fourth in five years against third-seeded Wyoming at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center in a game that will be broadcast on CBSSN. New Mexico (2003-05) was the last Mountain West team to win three in a row.
Against Fresno State (19-12), Hermida scored a career-high 30 points to go with 10 rebounds and eight assists. This came a night after teammate Braydey Hodgins set a conference tournament record with 37 points in a 72-67 victory over UNR.
“It says that our kids are pretty unselfish,” Presnell said. “Someone that’s not feeling it as much isn’t just going to keep jacking stuff up. We’re going to find the open person and find the person that’s hitting it. Our kids did that for Marta tonight, and she delivered big time.”
Ten Boise State players have at least shared the team scoring lead in games this season, which entered this week tied for second nationally with South Carolina. Wisconsin-Milwaukee was the leader at 11.
“I feel like we know that we have really, really good players, and we don’t know who’s going to step up, but we know someone’s going to step up,” Hermida said. “The best part of this team is we can recognize every single game who’s that person.”
Wyoming 75, San Diego State 70, OT — The Cowgirls went on an eight-point run to take control in overtime and advance to the championship game against Boise State. Marta Gomez scored 25 points for No. 3 Wyoming (22-7). Sophia Ramos led No. 7 San Diego State (14-18) with 16 points. The Cowgirls forced overtime when Karla Erjavec made two free throws with five seconds left.
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.