January 25, 2026
Boise State seniors give Broncos the edge in Mountain West race
Core group of versatile players takes Broncos team to the next level
Four teams are distancing themselves midway through the Mountain West Conference (MWC) season. However, Boise State has a key component its rivals at San Diego State, UNLV and Colorado State are missing: four senior starters who have played together their entire careers lead the Broncos.
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Tatum Thompson was the league’s preseason Player of the Year. However, she would rather credit classmates Natalie Pasco, Dani Bayes and Mya Hansen than brag about awards.
“It’s super nice, but I am more into team wins,” Thompson told The IX Basketball following a 75-65 win on Saturday at Grand Canyon. The Broncos (16-5, 7-3 MWC) are now on a six-game winning streak with a one-week hiatus.
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“Our leadership and having consistent seniors coming out and holding each other accountable and trying to get wins like these is what is leading to our wins,” Thompson continued. “We’ll want to use this for confidence. We want to stay humble and not let it go to our heads.”
The 6’1 forward from Woodinville, Wash., scored 13.6 points and grabbed 6.8 rebounds last season, including 25 and 8 in the MWC quarterfinals against UNLV. This season, her numbers have improved to 14.1 and 7.4 per game.
“We have great leadership and four seniors who have played a lot of basketball for us,” BSU head coach Gordy Presnell told The IX Basketball. “They all get along and have [similar] goals. We got off to a bad start where we lost our first two league games [at New Mexico and SDSU] and started out in 11th place. But, we are moving forward. They are really enjoyable to be around. We are fortunate that none of them left and they stayed at Boise State.”
Pasco was all-conference as a sophomore after leading BSU with more than 13 points per game. Currently, the 5’10 guard from Danville, Calif., is scoring 12.4 points per game. Senior guard Dani Bayes is slightly ahead of her, scoring 14.1 points per game. Bayes, originally from Brisbane, Australia, scored a game-high 23 in the GCU win, while Hansen drained two early threes to build an 8-0 lead. Hansen — the point guard from Montana — is scoring 8.1 points per game.
“Coming back, we had a lot of upperclassmen,” Pasco added following the GCU win that avenged an 87-76 home loss earlier this season. “So showing those new kids how we do things around here and coming out in practice each day and working hard is leading to these wins. I am looking forward to building off this. We needed to be more physical and more aggressive today.”
The Broncos have started the same five players in each game. In addition to the seniors, sophomore forward Libby Hutton is recording 9.5 points and 6.4 rebounds. The native of Perth, Australia, is in position to carry the torch next season.
“Libby is a really strong athlete and explosive,” Presnell added. “She’s really come on in conference play. It gives us some balance, and all five kids are capable of getting 20 [points any night].”
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The team beat Tulane by five in the Virgin Islands and lost to Colorado and Utah in the non-conference season. It owns the one head-to-head with the Rams and faces rematches with the Lobos and Aztecs in February, before concluding the season at the Lady Rebels.
In 20 previous seasons at BSU, Presnell boasts six conference tournament titles. The Broncos won the WAC in 2007 and five Mountain West crowns in six seasons between 2015 and 2020. Noting that the 2020 NCAA Tournament was cancelled, BSU’s last appearance was in 2019 — a five-point overtime loss at Oregon State. The Broncos and Beavers will be rivals in the new-look Pac-12 Conference next fall.
“We are just going to take it one day at a time,” Presnell added. “That sounds cliché, but I really want to enjoy them. I really like them, and I don’t want it to go too fast.”
Written by Scott Mammoser
Scott Mammoser covered the Paris 2024 Olympics for The IX Basketball. He has also covered major international events for FIBA, World Athletics and the International Skating Union. He has attended six other Olympics and traveled to more than 100 countries.
