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Sloppy, yes.

Unimpressive, maybe.

A crowd-pleaser, probably not.

Nonetheless, the University of New Mexico women's basketball team picked up a 63-54 victory over San Diego State on Wednesday night in The Pit.

The win pushed the Lobos (13-10 overall and 5-5 in the Mountain West Conference) a notch up on the Aztecs (13-9, 4-6 MWC) for fifth place in the conference standings.

It also served as a rehearsal for Sunday's showdown against second-place TCU (15-9, 8-2 MWC). The Horned Frogs beat No. 22 Wyoming 73-59 on Wednesday night in Fort Worth for their fifth straight win. The Lobos lost 70-55 at Wyoming this past Sunday.

Asked about playing the Horned Frogs next, UNM coach Don Flanagan joked: "I'm not going to go now."

Flanagan said TCU might be the toughest Mountain West team to beat at home.

Heck, they're tough for the Lobos to beat anywhere. TCU handed the Lobos a 57-54 loss in The Pit on Jan. 15. And last year in Fort Worth, TCU whipped the Lobos 67-43.

"I was about ready to resign after the game over there," Flanagan quipped. "They ran us out of there. . . . They are as good as anybody in their building."

UNM senior guard Brandi Kimble will try to contain TCU star Adrienne Ross, the former Hobbs High star who has been a nemesis of the Lobos. Ross has scored 58 points combined in the past three games against UNM.

"She's a very talented player," said UNM senior guard Brandi Kimble, who will be the primary defender against Ross. "But collectively, they have a really good team. We can't just stop her if we want to win."

The Lobos have won three of their past four games but didn't play particularly sharp against the full-court defensive pressure of the Aztecs, especially in the first half.

UNM trailed 26-25 at halftime but settled down in the second half to take control. The Lobos scored the first seven points after intermission to build a 32-26 lead. The Aztecs made a couple runs to cut the lead to one point, but they couldn't overtake the Lobos.

UNM pushed its advantage to 17 points (59-42) with 2:09 left to play before SDSU committed some late turnovers to cut into the lead to make the final score respectable.

"Anytime you play them (the Aztecs), it's going to be a grind because of the pressure they bring," Flanagan said.

He was somewhat disappointed in the team's late breakdowns against the SDSU press, but Flanagan said he was otherwise pleased with the victory.

"We're coming along; we're getting better," he said. "We played a little sloppy at times, but they make you do that. We got the win, and that puts that ahead of them."

Dionne Marsh led the Lobos with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Kimble added 14 points and six rebounds.

"I thought Dionne and Brandi, our two seniors, led the way for us," Flanagan said.