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UNM women's basketball quashes Rebels in MWC quarterfinals
Photo by Craig FritzTribune
Tribune
New Mexico's Brandi Kimble (left) fights for possession against UNLV's Allison Holiday. The Lobos won 80-52 Wednesday in Las Vegas, Nev., to advance in the Mountain West Conference tournament. Kimble was a game-breaker - she finished with nine points, seven rebounds and a career-high seven steals.
Photo by Craig FritzTribune
Tribune
Clarence Filip of Albuquerque cheers for the UNM women's basketball team as its lead balloons to 19-1 at the start of the game. The Rebels didn't notch their first field goal until almost 10 minutes had elapsed Wednesday.
Photo by Craig FritzTribune
Tribune
UNM's Valerie Kast gets igh fives from teammates as she goes to the bench near the end of the game against UNLV at the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The women's team won their opening game 80-52 and will play Wyoming on Friday.
Numbers
58 Percentage UNM shot from the field against UNLV
13 UNM turnovers, seven less than the Lobos had during their loss at UNLV last week
23 UNLV turnovers, which set up 30 UNM points
28 Margin of defeat for the Rebels, making it the worse loss UNLV has suffered this season
Ex-stars
Former UNM star Jordan Adams and former Utah star Shona Thorburn were at the Thomas and Mack Center on Wednesday. Adams is a high school coach in the Las Vegas area and was on hand to cheer for the Lobos, while Thorburn is doing color commentary for the Mountain broadcast.
Star sidelined
Co-MWC Player of the Year Dani Wright rolled her right ankle early in the first half of BYU's win over Air Force. Wright did not play the rest of the game. Cougars coach Jeff Judkins said he sat her because team trainers told him Wright would have a better chance of playing Friday if she didn't play the remainder of the game against Air Force.
Don't blink
Air Force collected its first MWC tournament win in school history by beating Colorado State in the pigtail game Tuesday night. But the Falcons' magical run was short-lived. No. 1 seed BYU cruised to a 72-40 win over the Falcons on Wednesday night. Mallary Gillespie led the Cougars with 20 points.
On the board
Redshirt freshman walk-on Stephanie Baldwin scored in the paint in the final two minutes of the Lobos' rout of UNLV on Wednesday. Baldwin was the only player on UNM's roster who had not scored a point this season. The crowd, chock-full of Lobos fans, roared with delight when Baldwin, a La Cueva High grad, finally got her first points.
Still watching
UNM Athletics Director Paul Krebs is in the midst of a search for a men's basketball coach, but he still made time to cheer on the women during the Lobos' thrashing of UNLV on Wednesday.
More Kast
UNM coach Don Flanagan used freshman center Valerie Kast to counter the Rebels' 6-foot-6 center Samantha Stickler. Flanagan said Kast's 12 points and solid defense should earn her more playing time in the future. Kast said she hopes it comes Friday against Wyoming's Justyna Podziemska. "She plays the European style, so I know exactly what she likes to do," Kast said. "I think I could match up well with her."
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LAS VEGAS, Nev. — It was as though there were five Allen Iversons on the court dressed as Lobos.
Except these scoring machines played better defense.
The University of New Mexico women's basketball team pounded UNLV 80-52 in Wednesday's quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament.
The Lobos left one question unanswered after such a dazzling and dominant performance.
Can they do it again?
"I definitely think we've got it in us to stay that hungry and play that well," senior guard Katie Montgomery said. "We were obviously really fired up to pay UNLV back for beating us last week and at the (MWC) tournament last year. But we came to win three games. We're not just satisfied with one (win)."
The third-seeded Lobos (22-8) will face second-seeded Wyoming (21-8) at 1 p.m. Friday in the tournament semifinals.
After facing run-and-gun teams the past two weeks, UNM will have to change gears to deal with the Cowgirls' bruising style of play.
It will be a rematch of the conference's top two defenses.
The teams' previous two meetings were black-and-blue affairs, with UNM losing 54-51 at Wyoming Jan. 4 and beating the Cowgirls 50-43 Feb. 4 in The Pit.
"I think we actually match up with them better than any other team in the conference," senior guard Julie Briody said. "If we play with as much heart and intensity as we did (Wednesday), I think we're capable of playing well against anybody."
The Lobos carry the momentum entering the matchup.
Wyoming struggled to a 56-44 win over seventh-seeded San Diego State on Wednesday afternoon, only managing a 17-14 lead at the half in a game marred by bad shooting.
The Aztecs threatened a big upset, only trailing by three points with 3:23 remaining. Wyoming iced the game by hitting 12 of 13 free throws in the final three minutes.
UNM coach Don Flanagan said the Cowgirls are a much more dangerous team than their game against the Aztecs indicated.
"That's the crazy thing about the tournament," he said. "One game a team can shoot 31 percent, the next game the same team can shoot 59 percent. Wyoming is a tremendous 3-point shooting team, and we have to be ready for their scoring threats."
The Cowgirls rely on a seven-player rotation, with forwards Hanna Zavecz and Justyna Podziemska Wyoming's biggest scoring threats.
Zavecz can drive well and hit mid-range jumpers, while Podziemska has strong post moves and a deadly 3-point shot.
Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said the Lobos have an advantage with five players on the UNM roster owning conference tournament championships.
"New Mexico is a quality ball club," Legerski said. "They are used to winning at this level, and that's going to be a big challenge for this young group. We're still a team that does not put a senior on the floor. We're still learning how to win."
UNM's old and new blood got a fresh taste of what it's like winning on the tournament stage.
The Lobos raced to a 21-1 lead, keeping UNLV from scoring its first field goal until the 10:21 mark in the first half. UNM led 40-16 at the half and never stepped off the gas, pushing their lead to as many as 38 points in the second half.
UNM fans made up most of the announced crowd of 3,938, cheering wildly as the Lobos pounded the Rebels.
"It was awesome," freshman center Valerie Kast said. "It was so cool to have the fans going crazy cheering for us. Now I understand why this tournament is so special."
Junior forward Dionne Marsh led the Lobos with 19 points and five rebounds. Montgomery added 17 points and eight assists.
Briody and Kast chipped in 12 points apiece.
Junior guard Brandi Kimble also was a huge factor for the Lobos, finishing with nine points, seven rebounds and a career-high seven steals. Kimble flustered UNLV guard Sequoia Holmes, who averaged 20 points in her previous two games against the Lobos, but only managed six Wednesday.
"It feels great to get the revenge we wanted," Kimble said. "I know our fans might worry about a letdown after this, but it's not going to happen. We know the next game will be a challenge, and we have to keep playing at this level of intensity. We understand what it takes and know we have it in us to do it."
