Nov. 8, 2004
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team will open the exhibition schedule Tuesday, November 9, against the West Coast All-Stars. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. at The Pit.
The Lobos second exhibition will be on Monday, November 15 at 7:00 p.m. against the Houston Flight. The regular season for UNM will begin on Saturday, November 20 at New Mexico State, while the home slate begins on Friday, November 26 against Missouri.
TONIGHT’S GAME:Tonight’s game features the Lobos of the University of New Mexico against the West Coast All-Stars in an exhibition match-up. This will be the first action of the season for the Lobos and the third game for the West Coast All-Stars.
SCOUTING THE LOBOS:The Lobos return 11 playes, including four starters from last seasons Mountain West Conference championship team. The top returning scorer and rebounder for New Mexico is senior forward Lindsey Arndt. Arndt last season averaged 10.4 ppg and 7.0 rpg.
SCOUTING THE WEST COAST ALL-STARS:The West Coast All-Stars enter tonight’s game with a record of 0-2. The All-Stars lost at UNLV 93-70 and at Texas Tech 101-52. The leading scorer for the West Coast All-Stars is LaShaunda Fowler averaing 12.5 ppg in her first two games.
THE COACHES:UNM is led by head coach Don Flanagan who enters his 10th season at New Mexico. Flanagan is 191-89 in nine years at UNM. The West Coast All-Stars are led by Jerry Gatewood.
2003-04 MWC CHAMPIONS:New Mexico finished the 2003-04 season with a 23-8 record and advanced to their third straight NCAA Tournament. The Lobos lost their opening round NCAA Tournament game to Florida 68-56. UNM won their first ever regular season Mountain West Conference championship with a 12-2 record, sharing the title with Utah. The Lobos also won their second consecutive MWC Tournament championship, becoming the first team in conference history to attain that feat.
LOBOS RETURN:The Lobos return eleven letterwinners in 2004, including four starters. Senior forward Lindsey Arndt is the top returning scorer at 10.4 ppg and rebounder at 7.0 rpg. Senior guard Mandi Moore is the top returning passer with 4.5 apg and is the only player to start all 31 games last season. New Mexico as a team returns 77 percent of their scoring and 79 percent of their rebounding.
MOORE AND ARNDT LOOK FOR RECORD:Junior guard Mandi Moore will likely become the first player in New Mexico women’s basketball history to score 1,000 points, grab 500 rebounds and dish out 500 assists. Moore enters the 2004-05 season with 839 points, 446 rebounds and 496 assists. Junior forward Lindsey Arndt will also look to reach a milestone and join Moore as the 10th and 11th players to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds. Arndt currently has 721 points and 520 rebounds.
DEPARTED SENIORS:The Lobos in 2004-05 will have to replace Melissa Forest and Lauren McLeod. Forest averaged 10.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg, along with being named to the third team All-Mountain West Conference. McLeod averaged 3.5 ppg and 1.5 rpg, while shooting 45.5 percent from the 3-point line.
PIT ATTENDANCE:New Mexico fans continued to show support for their women’s basketball team finishing fourth in average attendance for the second consecutive year. The Lobos average 11,865 a game and only trail Tennessee (14,076), Connecticut (13.937) and Texas Tech (12,577). The Lobos also tied with Texas Tech for most games over 8,000 with 17 and recorded the fourth and fifth largest crowds in all of women’s college basketball with 18,018 against UNLV and 17,417 against Colorado State.
20 WINS AGAIN:New Mexico recorded 23 wins in 2003-04 marking the fourth consecutive year that UNM has had 20 wins or more and sixth sesaon in seven years. In head coach Don Flanagan’s nine years the Lobos have recorded six 20 win seasons compared to zero prior to Flanagan’s arrival. New Mexico has also had eight consecutive winning seasons under Flanagan.
MAKING THE GRADE:The Lobos not only performed well on the court in 2003-04, they also did so in the classroom as well. New Mexico posted a 3.44 in the fall and a 3.24 in the spring. UNM also placed a school record nine players on the MWC Academic All-Conference list and also placed seven on the MWC Scholar-Athlete Award list.
NCAA’S AGAIN:New Mexico advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2004 for a school record third consecutive season. The Lobos lost in the opening round to Florida 68-56. UNM has now advanced to postseason play for seven consecutive seasons. The Lobos best NCAA Tournament finish was in 2003, when they advanced to the “Sweet Sixteen,” while their best WNIT finish was a runner-up finish in 2001.
WELCOME ABOARD:The Lobos in 2004-05 will add four freshman to their roster. In the post area UNM adds Morgan Saso a 6-3 center from Bakersfield North High School in Bakersfield Calif., and Dionne Marsh a 6-1 forward from Flower Mound High School in Flower Mound, Texas. At the guard position New Mexico adds 6-1 Lindsay Black from Dakota Ridge High School in Littleton Colo., and 5-8 Brandi Kimble from Lynwood High School in Stevenson Ranch, Calif.
THE LAST TIME: UNM VS. WEST COAST ALL-STARS:Los Angeles, Calif. – ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team opened its 2003 exhibition season with a 67-56 win over the West Coast All-Stars. Junior guard, Mandi Moore led the Lobos with 19 points, going 7-11 from the field and 4-7 from three point land.
After 6:26 in the game, the Lobos never fell behind by more than five points before going ahead 12-10. After taking the lead the Lobos never looked backed, extending their lead to as much as 15 with 4:11 left in the first half. Freshman Katie Montgomery led the Lobos in first half points with nine, shooting 2-2 for three pointers. At the end of the first half the Lobos were up 37-27.
Freshman guard Fatima Maddox displayed her quick ball handling skills before 8,914 fans at The PIT, while playing 22 minutes of the game. Moore continued her hot shooting in the second half as she connected on two more three point field goals. The West Coast All-Stars would not go away though as they fought back to eight with just over a minute to play. The Lobos hit clutch free throws at the end to seal the victory.
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE POLL:The New Mexico women’s basketball team was picked to finish second in the Mountain West Conference as selected by the league’s coaches and media the conference behind UNLV. The Lobos though did receive the most first place votes with eight, while Utah who was also picked for second had seven and UNLV had five.
MOORE HONORED:Junior guard Mandi Moore, who was named second-team All-Mountain West Conference in 2003-04, was selected to the preseason All-MWC team. Moore is the all-time assists leader in UNM school history at 496. Moore averaged 8.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 4.5 apg.
HOME SWEET HOME:One of the great home court advantages in all of college basketball, The Pit begins year No. 26 as the home of Lobo basketball. UNM went 14-4 at home in 2003-04, and since Don Flanagan took over the coaching duties in 1995-96, the Lobos have a record of 134-37 (78.4%).
UNM had a 24-game home winning streak going between 1998-99. The Lobos started the streak on Jan. 11, 1998 by defeating Wyoming, 72-45. The streak ended when the Lobos lost to Drake in the post season WNIT by a score of 73-60. In 2003-04 the Lobos had a nine game winning streak at home.
COMPLETE GAMER:Junior guard Mandi Moore started every game last season and played an average of 34.7 minutes in those 31 games. Moore played 1,075 minutes out of a possible 1,240 last season. Lindsey Arvdt was next on the team with 928 minutes.