The UNM women's basketball team hopes its impressive regular season translates into good fortune in the post-season when the Lobos start the Mountain West Conference Tournament today.
But when loss sends you home, the path to the championship is a treacherous one. And second-seeded UNM (21-7, 10-4 in the conference) faces an opponent in seventh-seeded San Diego State University (10-17, 2-12) that is hampered with a poor record, but has played most teams competitively this season.
"They haven't had the season they really wanted to have, but a team like that is a dangerous team," UNM head coach Don Flanagan said. "They have only won two games in conference and they are a much better team than that."
The Aztec's record would be better if they were able to pull out some of the tight games they have played. They have lost seven games by 10 points or less.
The close games carry over to the UNM-San Diego State series. Although the Lobos have won three straight games in the series and four of the last five, four of the games were decided by 10 points or less.
One of those UNM wins was last season in the first round of the conference tournament, defeating the Aztecs 55-49 in a sloppy game.
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Flanagan said he does not expect his team to come out sluggish in the opening game this year because the team is more focused.
And the Lobos will have to be prepared against San Diego State, a team that gave UNM all it could handle in both meetings this season.
In the first encounter Jan. 23 on the road, the Lobos built what seemed to be an insurmountable 41-13 lead.
But the Aztecs fought back to cut the lead to 55-49 before the Lobos eventually put the game away, winning 58-49.
The second meeting Feb. 23 in The Pit saw the Aztecs grab a nine-point first half lead and a 28-24 halftime advantage. UNM battled back in the second half, outscoring its opponent by 14 points to secure a 63-53 victory.
"I thought one of the things that we did well (in both games) was play hard," Flanagan said. "I think we have executed our offense better than normal and defended them halfway decent."
Aztec guard Claire Swinbank, who leads the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game, has stepped up her play against the Lobos, averaging 14 points in the two meetings.
Junior forward Chelsea Grear said despite the poor offensive statistics, SDSU has a lot of shooters and athleticism. She added that the one thing UNM has had success with is preventing easy opportunities.
"We need to stop their offensive sets and try to body them up a lot," she said. "But it is all about working hard and giving it your best effort."
UNM was led by a balanced offensive attack, with three players scoring in double figures the first meeting and two different players scoring in double figures the second time around.
Flanagan said that balance is what he is counting on today.
"We're going to take whatever they give us; we're not going to look for just any one person," Flanagan said. "We want to reverse the ball a little bit and give our offense opportunities. We want to space the floor and shoot it, and if we don't hit it, we want to get a second opportunity."
Junior center Jordan Adams, who leads the Lobos in scoring at 14.2 per game, said the game will be difficult because the two teams know each other so well.
"They know all about us, we know all about them," she said. "But I think we have the strong end and all we have to do is go in confident and do what we know we can do."
The game is at 1 p.m. and will be televised locally on KRQE, Channel 13 and broadcast on KNML-610AM.
