Lobos Sputter In 55-46 Loss At BYU
Feb. 19, 2005
PROVO, Utah – After picking up one of the biggest wins in school history in its last trip to Utah, New Mexico left the Beehive State with a much different result today, falling to BYU 55-46 in a Mountain West Conference tilt at the Marriott Center. Poor shooting and a tenacious Cougar defense proved too much to overcome as the Lobos (19-4, 8-2 MWC) five-game winning streak came to an end. BYU (16-8, 7-4 MWC) had few answers for the league’s top-ranked defense, but improved to 21-4 all-time against UNM in Provo.
With both teams struggling mightily from the floor, free throws proved to be the difference. BYU hit 19-23 (82.6%) from the line, including 15-19 (78.9%) in the second half. New Mexico, meanwhile, made just five of its nine attempts (55.6%) and went to the charity stripe a mere three times in the final 20 minutes.
After a first half that saw five ties and three lead changes, BYU outscored the Lobos 10-5 over the first five minutes of the second period to take a 34-27 lead. New Mexico senior point guard Mandi Moore was knocked out of the game two minutes into the second half after suffering a blow to the head in a collision with a BYU player. Moore was making her second appearance after missing the first game of her career last week due to an eye injury. After the game, UNM head coach Don Flanagan said he expected Moore to be back for the Lobos’ next game.
A pair of free throws by UNM sophomore Julie Briody whittled the Cougar lead down to five, 46-41, with 2:54 remaining, but BYU held firm. Following a missed jumper by center Daniel Cheesman, Cougar point guard Julie Sullivan grabbed the offensive rebound and fed Cheesman, who was fouled by Jana Francis as she scored. Cheesman then knocked down the free throw to push the lead back to eight with just over two minutes to play.
Abbie Letz’s jumper made it a two-possession game, 49-43, once again with 58 seconds remaining, but New Mexico missed its next three shots as the Cougars build their lead from the free throw stripe.
After shooting over 40 percent from the floor in its last six games, UNM hit just 19-59 (32.2%), including a frigid 3-19 (15.8%) from three-point range. The Lobos entered the game shooting nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc in their previous nine conference games.
Defensively, however, it was business as usual for New Mexico as the Cougar offense was stifled for much of the day. BYU hit a mere 30.2 percent of its shots (16-53) and was just 4-15 (26.7%) from three-point range.
Freshman forward Dionne Marsh led New Mexico in scoring with 13 points and also had nine rebounds. Senior forward Lindsey Ardnt, meanwhile, had nine points and nine rebounds in 40 minutes.
Forward Kristen Kozlowski led BYU with 11 points, while guard Mallary Gillespie had 10 points. Cheesman, meanwhile, finished with nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
New Mexico returns to Albuquerque next weekend for its final homestand against San Diego State (Feb. 24) and UNLV (Feb. 26). Tip-off for the game against the Aztecs is set for 7 p.m., while the Senior Day game against UNLV will begin at 2 p.m.