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UNM women plant seed for future success

By Iliana Limón
Saturday, March 10, 2007

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The seed has been planted.

Eight players on the University of New Mexico roster who had never been to a Mountain West Conference tournament championship finally get it.

They get what it takes to play in a conference tournament title game and how special it feels to be there.

"The seniors and juniors had to explain to us why we always needed to push ourselves a little harder and play at a higher level, but now we understand exactly what they mean," freshman center Valerie Kast said.

"This is such an awesome atmosphere and there is nothing like winning here. Now that the younger players have had a chance to experience it, we will be able to pass along those lessons next year."

The Lobos likely clinched an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament with their 65-53 win over Wyoming Friday afternoon at this year's conference tournament. But they are still aiming to win the title.

UNM (23-8) faces BYU (23-8) at 2 p.m. today in the Thomas & Mack Center for the championship.

The title means more than an automatic invitation to the NCAAs.

It's about extending the Lobos' winning tradition, and setting the tone for an even younger squad that will represent UNM next year.

The Lobos were bounced from the first round of the conference tournament last year but previously had won three consecutive tournament titles. They are 3-0 in MWC tournament championship games.

But if they fail to win this year, only two players on next year's team will have won a tournament title. The 2007-08 roster will include two seniors, two juniors, six sophomores and five freshmen.

"This is a very, very important experience for our younger players," UNM coach Don Flanagan said. "It doesn't even matter if they play as long as they get a chance to watch the older players prepare and play at this level. They understand what it takes to compete and expect to be there the following year. They want their chance to lead a team through that same experience.

"Winning a tournament championship would mean an awful lot to our program, not just this year's team."

The weight of maintaining UNM's winning legacy has been a burden, at times, for this year's senior class.

When UNM opened conference play 0-3, the seniors called a team meeting. They apologized to the rest of the team and promised to do a better job of leading them to success.

"I think there's always pressure to win and teach younger players that that's just what we do here," senior guard Katie Montgomery said. "It's something we had to fight really hard to maintain this year because there were so many younger players. But we were going to do whatever it took to win again because we didn't want to be the ones who ended the winning tradition."

The Lobos went 13-2 since the seniors' pep talk, a feat that has inspired and unified the group.

"I think we're all really focused and fired up to win the championship," Montgomery said. "I think there's a little less pressure on the seniors right now because we feel like everyone understands what we have to do. We're playing really well as a team right now. We have that attitude we need to win this time of year."

Freshman guard Amy Beggin said all the UNM rookies were sold on being part of a program that wins conference titles and goes to the NCAA Tournament.

Now that she is part of that success, Beggin said it's addicting.

"This is what I've always dreamed about," she said. "Playing in college, playing in big conference tournament games and going to the NCAA Tournament. So far, it's even better than I had ever imagined. I definitely want to do this again every year."