Jake Schoellkopf/Special to the Tribune

University of New Mexico senior guard Brandi Kimble (right) comes up with a loose ball against Northwestern's Sara Stutz during the first half. Kimble, who was named the tournament MVP, had 17 points and seven rebounds in the 67-38 romp over the Wildcats in the Women's Sports Foundation Challenge on Sunday afternoon in The Pit.

Jake Schoellkopf/Special to the Tribune

Lobos freshman center Jessica Kielpinski (foreground) puts a ball fake on Northwestern's Nadia Bibbs during the second half. Kielpinski had eight points and five rebounds off the bench for the Lobos.

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OK, the preliminaries are complete.

A three-game sweep of middle-of-the-road foes over three days did little to test of mettle of the University of New Mexico women's basketball team.

The last of those victories was a 67-38 rout of Northwestern on Sunday afternoon in The Pit.

UNM also defeated Western Michigan (85-62) and Dayton (72-64) in the three-day Women's Sports Foundation Challenge.

The Lobos showed they are Pit toughies.

Now, the team can turn its attention to a looming showdown at 13th-ranked California on Sunday.

"We're getting ready and the girls are excited," said senior forward Dionne Marsh. "It'll be on the road so it'll be our first big test this year."

Marsh and the rest of the Lobos will have to contend with Cal's All-American junior forward Ashley Walker. Walker — a 6-foot-1 All Pac-10 pick and honorable mention All-American last season — led the Golden Bears to an 83-79 season-opening victory at Fresno State on Saturday night.

Walker dominated with with 31 points and 23 rebounds.

"There's two difficult situations we're facing," UNM coach Don Flanagan said. "One, they're good. Two, we haven't played away yet.

"We'll prepare all week for them because that's a good opportunity for us."

Marsh said the Lobos need to take advantage of their chances to play elite teams from the major conferences. These type of games toughen the players to hostile environments and give the team a measuring stick before conference play kicks in.

"It's an important game for our RPI in case things don't go well in our conference," Marsh said. "They're a nationally ranked team so to beat them would give us some exposure."

UNM senior guard Brandi Kimble showed she's ready to step up to a bigger challenge after earning the Most Valuable Player award during this weekend's tournament.

Kimble had 17 points and seven rebounds in the win over the Wildcats. For the tournament, she totaled 49 points, 35 rebounds and shot 41.2 percent from 3-point range (7-of-17).

Kimble said she's eager to test herself against the talented Golden Bears.

"We've been playing really well at home but this will be our first game on the road," Kimble said. "Everybody's contributing right now so I think we'll be fine."

Joining Kimble on the all-tournament team were Marsh and sophomore point guard Amy Beggin. Beggin finished the tournament with 21 assists and four turnovers. She also had 34 points, 12 rebounds and was the team's best 3-point shooter, going 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Lobos have been inconsistent on offense, but the defense is starting to click. UNM held Northwestern to 26.7 percent shooting from the field and limited the Wildcats to 16 points in the first half. On offense, UNM shot better than 40 percent from the field in one of the three games.

"We're still not shooting the ball real well," Flanagan said. "But our defense is starting to come around. That's a good sign."

Flanagan said the three wins in three days should be enough preparation to take on a tough foe on the road.

"This is what we want," he said. "We had an opportunity to play three teams at home and we got some wins and some good experience. . . . I'm happy with where we're at."