New Mexico Lobos Women – At The Mountain West Tournament
Tuesday: New Mexico 57, San Diego State 56
Up Next: 8:30 p.m., (PT), Wednesday – New Mexico vs. Fresno State
On The Air: 610-AM with Joe Behrend; www.themwc.com
GoLobos.com: Game Story, LoboTV, Complete Stats
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Survive and advance is the name of the game in the postseason and that’s pretty much what the New Mexico Lobos did Tuesday night in the Las Vegas Thomas & Mack in a thrilling 57-56 quarterfinal win over San Diego State.
“We were fortunate to win this game. We are fortunate to move on,” said Lobo Coach Yvonne Sanchez. “I’m so proud of these kids.”
The Lobos got two free throws from Bryce Owens with 42 seconds to play to pull into a 57-56 lead and then the Lobos had to hold their breath as the Aztecs attacked trying to pull the upset.
SDSU missed a jumper with 31 seconds to play, missed a trey with about two ticks left and then watched a desperation follow miss at the buzzer. The Lobos advance to play No. 3 seed Fresno State, a 74-66 winner over Wyoming. That game tips at 8:30 p.m. (PT) Wednesday from the Thomas & Mack Center.
“You have to believe,” said Sanchez. “We’ve won games like this all year long. It wasn’t like this a year ago. I credit San Diego State. They have a terrific team and they took us out of a lot of what we wanted to do.
“What a great game for the fans. This is what tournament time is all about. Our fans were terrific. I give them a lot of credit for creating an atmosphere like The Pit.”
The Lobos were led by Antiesha Brown with 17 points and six boards and Brea Mitchell came off the bench to add an important 11 points. Cherise Beynon had eight points and eight boards. Alexa Chavez had seven points and eight boards.
“It’s called March Madness for a reason,” said Brown. “You can’t look back on what you’ve done in Januray or February. It’s a completely different season. Every team starts out 0-and-0. I just think we can’t take anything for granted.”
Ahjalee Harvey led the Aztecs with 16 points and Erimma Amarikwa had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
A key to the win for UNM was turning the ball over only 10 times to the SDSU pressure. UNM shot 38.3 percent from the floor and went 3-of-14 from long range. The Aztecs shot 44.2 percent and went 2-of-3 from 3-point range. UNM won the glass battle 36 to 33.
It was really a last-man-standing type of battle. The Lobos held a 55-52 lead on a layup by Khadijah Shumpert with 3:37 to play and UNM only got the two points from Owens the rest of the way, but it was just enough – enough to survive and advance.
“Coach told us before the game it was going to be a grind that there are no blowouts when it’s tournament time,” said UNM’s Mitchell. “We knew it was going to be a grind.”
Said Sanchez: “I told them at the end of the game, I said, ‘You guys have done this all year long.’ We’ve won close games. We grew up a little bit. I grew up a little bit. The first game of the tournament — this was our first game — is always a tough one.”
The Aztecs led 41-37 at the 16:21 mark of the second half and UNM led 51-45 with 8:19 to go on a trey by Mitchell. But there was never much separation in this game as both teams played intense basketball – and intense defense – in an effort to keep their seasons alive. The Lobos led 35-32 at the half.
“You can’t take for granted playing a team three times thinking they are going to do the same thing,” said Sanchez. “San Diego State had a great game plan.”
The win was New Mexico’s 12th in the past 13 games. More importantly, they are 1-0 in the Mountain West Tournament and still alive.
The Aztecs smashed Nevada Monday night 70-48 to earn a third shot this season at beating the Lobos. The Lobos swept the Aztecs during the regular season: 62-53 in Albuquerque and 63-47 in San Diego and still had that broom in their hands when they ran off the Thomas & Mack floor.
The No. 2 seed Lobos are the highest seed left in the tournament as San Jose State upset No. 1 seed Colorado State.
There is a message of desperation in every game. The Mountain West probably is a one bid team when it comes to NCAA play and that bid goes to the 2015 champion.
“We’ve grown up. We’ve worked on things,” said Brown. “We’ve taken every lesson we possibly could from last year.”