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Women's basketball: Lobos dread reruns after loss to UNLV

Rebels' win reminiscent of twin defeats for team last season

By Iliana Limón
Friday, March 2, 2007

Smart Box

Women's preview

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The Lobos are fighting an ugly case of déja vu.

Last year, the University of New Mexico women's basketball team fell to UNLV in Las Vegas, won its next game against BYU and lost to the speedy Rebels in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament.

This year, the University of New Mexico women's basketball team could find history repeating itself.

The Lobos (20-8, 10-5) fell 70-51 at UNLV on Thursday night, snapping UNM's eight-game winning streak and killing its chances of tying BYU for a share of the league regular season championship.

UNM plays at San Diego State (12-14, 5-10) on Saturday, taking on another run-and-gun team, and stands a strong chance of ending the year ranked third in league play.

If the Lobos finish third, they will likely play UNLV in Las Vegas during the first round of the tournament.

"It's upsetting because we know we could have played better," senior guard Katie Montgomery said. "But at the same time, we know we're a better team than this and can recover better than this pretty quickly."

The Rebels unleashed their trademark blistering defense, forcing 20 UNM turnovers to go on a 20-10 run in the final 10 minutes Thursday night.

The Lobos, who lead by 11 points with about 15 minutes left in the game, only scored five points in the final five minutes.

UNM made matters worse by shooting 5-of-11 from the free-throw line.

"I tried to make adjustments to change the momentum of the game, but it just wasn't happening," Flanagan said.

Julie Briody and Dionne Marsh led the Lobos with 17 points apiece, with Marsh coming one rebound short of a double-double with nine boards.

Junior guard Sequoia Holmes led the Rebels with 22 points, and junior guard Latoya Hunt added 14 off the bench.

"I told our guards to look inside when we were struggling, but it was tough because we had so much trouble bringing up the ball," Flanagan said. "For awhile, everyone was trying to help each other out. Then they quit on each other."

Briody was one of the few players on the court who didn't look afraid to shoot or drive the ball up the floor under pressure during the final eight minutes of the game.

"I think we could have been a lot more aggressive and could have gotten back into the game," she said. "Our strategy is to get it into Dionne because no one can guard her, but players have to take shots when they're open," Briody said.

The Lobos have to learn quickly from the Rebels' win, with the Aztecs likely to unleash the same style of pressure Saturday and a potential quick rematch with UNLV looming.

"We have to learn to handle pressure better," Flanagan said.

Marsh suggested the Lobos needed to be more aggressive in practice to get a better feel for the type of defenses they will be facing.

Montgomery said the UNLV loss was probably enough of a wake-up call.

"We knew their pressure was coming and handled it well for a little bit, but then we let it get to us," she said. "I think we'll remember this and understand we can't afford to let up at all during the rest of our games. We need to play hard every minute and work together better as a team."

Briody said the Lobos are fighters and will find a way to avoid a repeat of last season's collapse in the first round of the conference tournament.

An early loss could be disastrous for UNM's postseason hopes, likely killing their chances of earning an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.

"We have won some much tougher games on the road this season and understand what it's going to take to bounce back," Briody said. "This wasn't the ending we wanted after getting so hot, but we're not going to let this loss snowball and undo all our hard work. We can come back from this and be stronger than ever."