BOISE, Idaho – The Boise State women's basketball team won their fifth-straight regular season home opener on Friday, knocking off Northwest Christian 83-51 at Taco Bell Arena. The game was the official season opener for the Broncos but was played as an exhibition for NCU.

Both teams came ready to play with five three-point shots dropping in the first two minutes, three coming from the home side and two from NCU guard Niki Duncan. After the exchange of threes, the Broncos wasted little time in jumping out front, going on an 11-point run and ending the first quarter with 32 points and a 52% field goal percentage.

The Broncos finished the first half holding a 50-25 advantage, but the Beacons kept it close in the second half as the Boise State advantage only grew from 25 points to the final margin of 32.

Head Coach Heath Alexander said, "I thought we did some good things tonight and we put together some good minutes. We competed and made them work. I like that these type of games give us examples of what we need to fix. We will go back to work this week and keep getting better."

NCU (3-0) was led offensively by freshman center Anamaria Virjoghe who had 12 points and two boards. Duncan contributed 11 on the night, going 3-6 from long-range. Katerina Brejchova and Conner Borigo each grabbed seven rebounds, while Janae Turner had eight points and two three-point buckets.

Preseason All-Mountain West forward Shalen Shaw led the Broncos with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists in the victory. Guard Marta Hermida came up just shy of a triple-double with 12 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

Northwest Christian returns from their four-game road trip on Saturday, November 18, when they host Pacific Union College at 6 p.m. in the Morse Event Center.