LAS VEGAS - The UNM women's basketball team continues its quest for a Mountain West Conference tournament title today against Brigham Young University at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Lobos (22-7) have not lost to the Cougars in two meetings in the regular season.
UNM and the Cougars (20-8) were tied for second place at the end of the regular season, but the Lobos earned the number two seed in the tournament with the series sweep.
UNM defeated the Cougars 58-52 Jan. 17 in The Pit, then turned around and beat them on BYU's home turf 71-64 Feb. 16.
UNM head coach Don Flanagan said beating a team three times in a season is very difficult.
"They have a lot of talent and have been playing well lately," he said.
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The Cougars are one of the nation's most proficient 3-point shooting teams and parade a lot of individual talent. They are the only team in the conference to have four players selected to the 2001-02 Mountain West all-conference teams.
Erin Thorn, a first-team selection, leads the way for the Cougars. The 5-foot, 10-inch guard averages a team-high 17 points per game.
"She is very difficult to defend," Flanagan said. "You have to forget about helping anyone else on defense. She is one player you can't continually defend."
While Thorn is a prolific scorer, she has yet to prove it to the Lobos. In the first match-up in The Pit, she failed to reach double figures, posting only eight points on three-of-12 shooting.
At BYU, she barely reached double figures with 10 points on three-of-14 shooting.
Thorn's poor shooting against UNM was the trend for the entire Cougar squad.
A team that normally averages eight made 3-pointers per game and a 42.5 shooting percentage from behind the arc shot an uncharacteristic six-of-23 in The Pit and seven-of-22 at home.
While the Cougars have had some of their poorest shooting outings against UNM, the opposite has occurred for the Lobos.
In Provo, Utah, Mandi Moore, Jordan Adams and Chelsea Grear all recorded double-doubles.
Adams captured game-high honors with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Moore had 15 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Grear added 12 points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds. The Lobos ended up blasting the Cougars on the boards 51-37.
Moore, Adams and Lindsey Arndt all scored in double figures in the teams first meeting.
Moore's play has been a factor in both of the victories against BYU.
Moore struggled for a half in the first-round action against San Diego State University Wednesday. Moore finished with only four points on zero-of-six shooting.
The game will be televised by KRQE-TV, Channel 13 at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on 610-AM, The Sports Animal at 12:30 p.m.
