ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team received a second-place pick in the preseason Mountain West women’s basketball poll released Wednesday morning.
The voting panel consisted of the league’s 11 head coaches and select women’s basketball media from around the conference. UNM collected a total of 221 votes with seven first place votes.
Colorado State claimed the top spot with 237 points and 12 first place votes. Boise State followed the Lobos in third place with 215 votes and six first place votes. Fresno State, UNLV, San Diego State and Wyoming were placed in the middle of the pack in that order, while San José State, Utah State, Nevada and Air Force round out the bottom half.
UNM returns four starters from last year’s squad and 11 letterwinners from a team that rewrote the history books with a school record of 14 wins in Mountain West play.
The Mountain West also released the preseason All-Mountain West team along with preseason Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year Wednesday morning.
For the Lobos, Khadijah Shumpert was named to the team along with Boise State junior Brooke Pahukoa, Colorado State junior Ellen Nystrom, Utah State sophomore Funda Nakkasoglu and Wyoming Senior Marquelle Dent.
“I think Khadijah deserves it, no questions,” said head coach Yvonne Sanchez. “She has come into her own. She is a tough kid and a tough kid to guard. She just wants to be good and it’s a good pick for Khadijah.”
Shumpert finished with 10.8 points per game which was second on the team in 2014-15. She brought down 5.8 boards per game to lead the team. Of the Lobos three double-doubles on the season last year, Shumpert claimed two of those, which included a career-high performance against Cal Poly, scoring 27 points to go along with 12 rebounds.
Dent was named the Preseason Player of the Year and Nevada Junior Stephanie Schmid and San José State junior Dezz Ramos picked up Co-Newcomers of the Year.
Preseason Freshman of the Year went to New Mexico’s own Jannon Otto. Otto was a two-time High Desert League Player of the Year, averaging 26.1 points per game to go along with 10.9 rebounds per game for Oak Hills High School. ESPNW rated Otto 16th-best wing coming out of high school.
“It’s hard for her to be in that spot because you don’t want her to press too much,” said Sanchez. “I think she can be really good and her skill set is good but she still has work to do.”
Season and single-game tickets are on sale now. To purchase, visit GoLobos.com, the ticket office at WisePies Arena aka The Pit (northeast corner) or call (505) 925-LOBO.