Senior Deeshyra Thomas played her final game as a member of the Weber State University women’s basketball team as they were defeated by the No. 1 seed, Montana State University, 65–53 in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament in Reno, Nevada.
“I am just really proud of my team and how we fought and battled the entire game,” Thomas said. “We left it all out there for our last game, and I appreciate them all for doing that because this was my last game.”
Before fouling out of the game with 42 seconds left on the clock, Thomas scored a total of 15 points, had three assists, four steals and snatched one rebound.
“I don’t want to get emotional,” Weber State head coach Bethann Ord said. “But no one works harder and wants to get better than Deeshyra. I couldn’t be more proud of her and the contributions she has made to our program.”
Junior Kailie Quinn led the team with 18 points — five of those being 3-pointers. Behind Quinn was sophomore Emily Drake with 13 points.
Freshman Dominique Williams snatched 12 rebounds for the Wildcats.
“The girls did a wonderful job at sticking to the game plan,” Ord said. “They laid it all out there on the floor. I couldn’t be more proud of this group of ladies for what they have been through and what they’ve achieved this year.”
Before making the trip to Reno, the Wildcats concluded their regular conference season against Montana State in Bozeman, where the Wildcats suffered a 53–72 loss to the Bobcats.
Despite Montana State being the No. 1 seed in the conference, the Wildcats gave them a run for their money.
“All we wanted was a chance,” Quinn said. “For us to come in here and give ourselves a chance is all we wanted, and we did that.”
At the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats only trailed by one point, despite the Bobcats grabbing 13 boards compared to WSU’s six.
Quinn dropped two 3-point shots and WSU went on a 9–0 run to put them on top 26–18 in the second quarter.
MSU cut the deficit to five with 2:03 left in the second, and managed to tie things up before halftime at 31 all.
Both offenses struggled during the third quarter, but MSU pulled ahead with a 48–44 lead over WSU heading into the fourth.
Weber State cut the deficit to one point with under a minute to play, but MSU’s shooters came up big, extending their lead 57–53.
The Wildcats were unable to drop their shots and grab the rebounds. WSU continued to foul members of MSU with hopes of getting a few last-minute shooting attempts but, ultimately, came up short.
Both team shot 33 percent from the field and 26 percent from behind the arc.
WSU was out-rebounded 54–32, while the Bobcats converted 22 points from those second chance opportunities.
WSU finished their season with a 13–18 overall record.
“This game gives a glimpse of what we can be and what we will be in the future,” Quinn said. “We are just going to continue to improve every single day and let this be our momentum. We will take the positives from this and do what we can with them.”
