Boise St. 49

3/10/2007 4:15 PM

By PETE HERRERA
AP Sports Writer

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - Tasha Harris scored 10 of her 13 points in the second half and top-seed Boise State finally found enough offense to beat New Mexico State 49-46 to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament Saturday.

Boise State (24-8) won despite a horrendous first half of shooting. The Broncos had just one field goal in the final 11 1/2 minutes and hit just 5 of 29 shots in the first half.

Amanda Stewart's offensive rebound basket with 4:18 left put the Broncos ahead 48-44 and Jessica Thompson added a free throw with 8.6 seconds remaining. New Mexico State's only points over the final 4 minutes were a pair of free throws by Sherell Neal with 1:18 remaining.

New Mexico State (13-18) fell short in its bid to pull off another upset. For the second straight year the Aggies made it to the championship game as the seventh seed, but again came up short. NMSU lost to Louisiana Tech in last year's title game. The Aggies eliminated No. 2 seed Louisiana Tech in this year's quarterfinals and beat No. 3 Nevada in the semifinals on Friday.

Neal led the Aggies with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Her final points were two free throws with 1:18 left that cut the Broncos' lead to 48-46 and ended a more than 4 minute drought by the Aggies.

Harris missed on a 3-pointer with 52 seconds left, but the rebound came out long and reserve guard Nadia Begay, a native of Kirtland, N.M., got it.

Boise State's Rebecca Kepilino, who had 12 rebounds, missed on a short shot in the lane with 26 seconds left. In the scramble for the rebound, the ball went out of bounds and the Aggies were awarded the possession although it appeared Neal had touched it last.

New Mexico State guard Monique Bribiescas fumbled an attempted baseline shot and Boise State rebounded. Thompson then hit the first of two free throws with 8.6 seconds left and Bribiescas' 3-pointer with 3 seconds left was short.