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LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The University of New Mexico stormed out to a 15-2 lead and held off a late Colorado State rally en route to a 65-51 victory over the Rams on Friday afternoon in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center. New Mexico will face BYU, which defeated Utah, 70-59, earlier in the day, in the MWC championship game on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. (MST). Saturday’s winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
UNM improves to 21-8 with the victory. The Lobos have won five straight and eight of their last nine. Colorado State drops to 18-12.
New Mexico is in a conference tournament final for the third time, but is making its first appearance in an MWC title game. The Lobos lost the 1996 Western Athletic Conference championship to Colorado State in Albuquerque. They beat Rice in Las Vegas to bring home the 1998 WAC title.
Down 17 midway though the second half, CSU used a 17-5 run to cut the UNM lead down to just five, 52-47, with five minutes remaining. However, senior center Jordan Adams hit a pair of baseline jumpers as New Mexico scored nine-straight points over the next four minutes to secure the victory.
New Mexico never trailed on the afternoon and held the Rams to a single field goal over the first 12 minutes of the game. CSU went over 10 minutes without scoring before Lisa Narkiewicz finally connected on a three-pointer to snap the 13-0 Lobo run. The Lobos built their lead up to 17, before CSU closed the half with a 5-0 burst to trail 27-15 at the break. CSU committed 12 of its 18 turnovers on the afternoon in the first 20 minutes of play.
Adams scored a game-high 17 points to lead four Lobos in double figures. Senior forward Chelsea Grear has 12, while guards Mandi Moore and Cristal Garcia scored 11 apiece. Adams also pulled down a game-high seven rebounds to go along with two blocks. Grear also had a fine defensive effort, trying a season-high with four of the Lobos’ nine steals. New Mexico held the Rams to just 33.9 percent shooting for the game, including 22.2 percent (4-18) from beyond the arc. CSU hit just 6-25 (24%) of its shots in the first half.
Forward Jackie Campbell led the Rams with 12 points, while guard Jasai Ferrucho and center Shannon Strecker had 11 and 10, respectively. Colorado State leading-scorer Ashley Augspurger struggled once again against the Lobos, finishing with just three points, before fouling out seven minutes into the second half. Augspurger was held to just two points in the teams’ last meeting during the regular season in Albuquerque.