Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Las Vegas, Nev. — Go ahead and punch the ticket. Behind 17 points and eight rebounds from Tournament MVP Jordan Adams, the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team captured the 2003 EAS Mountain West Conference Tournament title with a hard-fought 52-46 victory over Brigham Young on Saturday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center.
New Mexico (22-8) used a tenacious defensive effort and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to capture its first MWC Tournament title and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. The Lobos have won six straight and nine of their last 10.
BYU, which was making its third straight conference tournament title game appearance, fell to 19-11 on the year. The triumph ensures that New Mexico will be playing at home in The Pit when the 64-team bracket is announced on ESPN tomorrow at 3 p.m. Mountain Time. UNM is hosting the NCAA Tournament 1st and 2nd Rounds on March 22 and 24 as well as the Midwest Regional March 29 and 31.
The Lobos earn their second automatic bid to the Big Dance. UNM won the WAC title – also in Las Vegas – in 1998. New Mexico is making its third NCAA Tournament appearance overall, gaining an at-large berth last year.
New Mexico got into the bonus with just under five minutes left on the game and hit 8-12 from the free throw line to break open a white-knuckle contest. The lead traded hands eight times in the first nine minutes of the second half before BYU was able to build a four-point advantage, 37-33, at the 10:15 mark. However, Adams responded with a baseline jumper to spark a 9-1 Lobo burst over the next five minutes.
The Cougars closed to within one, 44-43, on a Danielle Cheesman jumper with 2:30 remaining, but UNM forward Chelsea Grear responded with an offensive put-back to open a 6-0 burst. BYU was held to just one field goal the rest of the way as UNM secured its victory from the charity stripe.
“It was a defensive battle against an offensive-oriented team,” said UNM head coach Don Flannagan. “I thought there was a stretch in the second half where we showed great poise and composure. We thought we were going to win and we felt the tournament title was ours.”
While scoring just one point on the afternoon, New Mexico senior guard Cristal Garcia was instrumental in the Lobos second-half surge as she held BYUs prolific guard, Erin Thorn, scoreless over the final 20 minutes of play. The Cougars leading scorer at 19.4 points per game, Thorn finished with 12 points on the afternoon, after lighting Utah up for 30 in Fridays semifinal matchup.
BYU took a narrow 24-22 lead into the locker room after a back-and-forth first half, which featured four ties and three lead changes. Defenses dominated over the first 20 minutes as both teams struggled from the floor. New Mexico hit just 9-33 (27.3%) field goals, including 4-15 (26.7%) from beyond the three-point arc. The Lobos started 3-of-20 from the field. Meanwhile, the Cougars were 10-29 (34.5%) in the first period, with Thorn making 5-12 from the floor.
Adams averaged 13.9 points in the three MWC Tournament games to earn Tournament MVP honors. Sophomore guard Mandi Moore joined Adams as the UNM representatives on the All-Tournament team. Moore finished with a game-high six assists and three steals, while adding five points and four rebounds. Grear scored all seven points in the second half and recorded a team-high nine rebounds.
New Mexico hit 14-20 from the free throw line in the second half after attempting none in the first period. The Lobos also were 7-17 from the floor (41.2%) in the second half, while limiting the Cougars to just 1-10 shooting from three-point range in the final frame.
Thorn had seven rebounds to go along with her team-high 12 points, while guard Jen Overdiek grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to lead the Cougars.
Ticket Information
From now until 8 a.m. on Monday, the only way to purchase tickets for the NCAA 1st/2nd Rounds and Midwest Regional is online at www.golobos.com. Click on the red-and-blue NCAA Tournament logo on the front page.
Beginning Monday at 8 a.m., tickets will be available the following ways:
>online at www.golobos.com>by calling (505) 925-5858>at Raley’s in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe>at the ticket office at The Pit>at Western Wearhouse (starting at 10 a.m. Monday)
Prices are $20 for adults and $10 for students for the 1st/2nd round games, which is for 2 games on Saturday, March 22 and 1 game on Monday, March 24.
Midwest Regional tickets are $25 for adults and $12 for students. There will be 2 games on Saturday, March 29 and 1 game on Monday, March 31.
If any single-session tickets for 1st/2nd round games are available, they will go on sale at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, March 21. Single-session prices are $10 and $6 on March 22 and $15 and $6 on March 24.
As of 3 p.m. Saturday, more than 5,300 tickets had been sold for 1st/2nd Rounds and more than 4,000 for the Midwest Regional.
9