March 3, 2005
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Senior Lindsey Arndt scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half to lead the University of New Mexico to a memorable 71-63 road victory at Colorado State on Thursday night, snapping a 19-year drought in Moby Arena. Trailing by five with just under five minutes left to play, New Mexico (22-4) outscored the Rams (14-12, 5-8 MWC) 14-4 down the stretch to improve to 11-2 in the Mountain West Conference. After 14 ties and 11 lead changes, the Lobos took the lead for good on a steal and lay-up by Mandi Moore with 1:54 remaining.
It was a total team effort for UNM, which had three players score in double figures, while Moore flirted with a triple double. Freshman forward Dionne Marsh poured in a game-high 26 points on 10-17 shooting, junior Abbie Letz had 10, while Arndt added seven rebounds to her 17 points. Moore, meanwhile, finished with nine points, eight assists, six rebounds and zero turnover in a full 40 minutes.
New Mexico rallied from a four-point halftime deficit, taking a 50-45 lead on Judy Vogt’s three midway through the second half. CSU, however, trimmed the lead down to three, then used an 8-0 run to go ahead 59-54 with 4:47 remaining. Arndt responded, sandwiching a three and inside basket around a pair of free throws by the Rams’ Melissa Dennett to ignite the game-changing run.
UNM shot 46.6 percent on the night, including a sharp 56 percent in the second half, and connected on 13-16 free throws. Sarah Hunter led Colorado State with 17 points, while Dennett and Lindsey Thomas with 16 and 15, respectively.
The Lobos return to action on Saturday as they close out the regular season at Wyoming.