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Las Vegas — The New Mexico Lobos aspirations of gaining an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament were dashed today as BYU ripped UNM 71-58, in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
UNM falls to 22-8 on the season and must now wait two long days to see if it will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. BYU improves to 21-8.
The NCAA Selection Show airs Sunday at 3 p.m. Mountain Time on ESPN. New Mexicos only NCAA Tournament appearance came in 1998 after it won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship.
All looked good at the outset as the Lobos jumped out to a 7-0 lead. New Mexico made its first three shots, including a short jumper and a 3-pointer by Chelsea Grear. Molly McKinnons 3-pointer handed UNM a 10-5 lead less than four minutes into the game.
Thats when momentum changed. While the Lobos turned the ball over on four straight possessions, BYU was in the midst of a 13-0 spurt that gave them an 18-10 advantage. UNM went more than six minutes without a basket, but still managed to be within three (22-19) following a layin by Daja Adams.
The Cougars increased the margin to 34-23, though, when Erin Thorn nailed a baseline trey with 4:15 left before halftime. UNM trimmed the deficit again to 34-28, but Stacy Jensen ended the half with five straight points, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, to move the lead back to 11 points at 39-28.
The 39 first-half points are the most allowed by UNM since Texas scored 42 on Dec. 6.
BYU dominated the middle and took advantage of the Lobos sloppy ballhanding in the first half. The Cougars held a 20-8 scoring edge for points in the paint and scored 11 points off seven UNM turnovers. BYU freshman Danielle Chessman ruled the middle with 12 points and 5 rebounds in the first period.
Early in the second half, the Lobos cut the deficit to nine (44-35) on a jumper by Mandi Moore, but the Cougars used a 9-2 run to increase their lead to 16 and were never threatened again.
The Lobos, who swept the regular-season series from the Cougars, shot just 29.8% from the floor, their second-worst shooting accuracy of the season. New Mexico came into the game ranked first in the MWC and among the nations leaders in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense, allowing less than 57 points and under 36 percent shooting on the season. The Cougars made 43% of their attempts, but connected on a salty 59% (16-27) in the decisive first half.
Jordan Adams was the only Lobo in double figures with 11 points, but she made just 3 of 10 shots from the floor. Thorn led three Cougars in double figures with 22 points.9