That’s all, folks.
Eastern New Mexico had a puncher’s chance that is, until the UNM women’s basketball team threw a haymaker.
The Lobos manhandled the Zias in their lone exhibition game, 100-52.
Although the dress rehearsal is supposed to be easy, head coach Don Flanagan said he saw things that needed some tweaking before the Lobos’ regular season-opener on Friday against Northern Colorado.
“I am probably going to get a little bit negative now,” Flanagan said. “I am not necessarily negative with (the players), but the whole picture. I think we can do a lot better.”
It couldn’t have gotten much better for Lauren Taylor.
Taylor couldn’t have missed a shot, even if she was by herself in an open gym.
She jabbed Eastern New Mexico with 11 points on a 16-0 Lobo scoring run in the first half.
“I think I have gotten a lot more confident in my shot,” Taylor said. “The mentality from last year to this year I am just relaxed, and hopefully it keeps happening. If I get the ball, I am going to make it, it’s going in.”
Taylor finished the game with 20 points. She hit all seven of her field goals and was 4-for-4 from beyond the 3-point line.
“She understands the game quite well,” Flanagan said. “She moves pretty well without the ball and in transition. She runs a lot faster, and she is stronger than she was last year. You’re seeing an improved player as a sophomore.”
It didn’t just look simple for Taylor against Eastern New Mexico, but rather for all the Lobos.
At the 11-minute mark in the second half, senior point guard Amy Beggin found a wide-open Porche Torrance behind the 3-point line.
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Torrance missed, collected and scored on an easy lay up.
And that’s how the ball rolled all game for the Zias.
“Usually your exhibition game, (as a team) you have a lot to work on,” Flanagan said. “It’s pretty much glaring in this showing. But from our standpoint, I thought it was good for us.”
Beggin scored 13 points and had four assists. The pre-season All-American and All-Mountain West Conference first team guard went 4-of-6 from the field.
Amanda Best capped the game against the Zias with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
But even with the Lobos’ success on the offensive side of the ball, Best said the team could have played better defense.
“We didn’t play very good defense tonight, and it was evident,” she said. “We have a lot to improve on, and this game kind of showed it for us as far as the defensive end. It was good we got a little practice game in before we start on Friday.”
