LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The staple of the UNM women’s basketball team all season long has been its stingy defense, but Brigham Young University attacked the Lobos strength and turned it into mush.
When the Lobos struggled offensively during the year, the defense would propel them to victory. Friday, the Cougars’ shooting arsenal exposed the Lobo defense with aggressive inside play and slashing drives to the basket to rout UNM 71-58.
“I thought they were the more aggressive team,” UNM head coach Don Flanagan said. “When they were setting up their offense they would penetrate; they would drive harder. They set up their offense in a more aggressive fashion.”
The Lobos entered the conference tournament giving up only 56.7 points per game, which is eighth best in the nation and number one the Mountain West.
And the Cougars got a first hand look at that defensive prowess in two earlier meetings this season, scoring 52 and 64 points, both losses to the Lobos.
BYU, which averages a conference-high 73.1 points per game, learned from first two games and turned the tables on UNM. The match-up between the conferences best offensive and best defensive teams quickly fizzled into a mismatch as BYU shot a sizzling 59 percent from the field in the first half to build a comfortable 39-28 lead.
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After UNM built an early 7-0 lead, the Cougars found their rhythm offensively and started scoring in bunches.
“They ran their offense much better than we did,” Flanagan said. “Them shooting 59 percent in the first half really put us in a bind.”
Cougar forward Danielle Cheesman began dominating the inside and guard Erin Thorn took care of the outside, leading BYU on an 18-3 run. The Cougars pushed the ball up the court several times for easy baskets and bullied their way in the post for layups.
UNM’s team defense was exposed as BYU turned the Lobos team defensive scheme into a one-on-one strategy, which helped the Cougar players drive the lane with ease.
BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said his team was able to create match-up problems for UNM because the Lobos switch a lot defensively.
“We just tried to take care of he inside,” Judkins said. “I went smaller more than I usually have and it worked. They switched a lot and we had our (guards and forwards) go into the post against a their guards.”
When Lobo players did help out, which was rare, Thorn and guard Stacy Jensen were left wide open for 3-pointers.
“They are hard to defend because their inside kids can score and shoot the three,” Flanagan said. “Also, their outside players are all really aggressive.”
BYU dominated on the inside, scoring 30 points in the paint compared the Lobos’ 16.
The Cougars offensive exhibition was even more impressive considering Flanagan said UNM was playing its best defense of the season heading into the tournament. The Lobos held 20 of their last 21 opponents under 70 points, including nine straight heading into Friday. UNM went 17-4 in that span.
Although the Cougars slowed down considerably in the second half, shooting only 25 percent, their assertiveness continued, getting to the free throw line to make 16-of-17 for 94 percent.
Thorn, BYU’s leading scorer at 17 points per game, could only muster up 18 points in the two teams’ meetings this season. She finished with 22 points on five-of-15 shooting from the field, including 10-of-11 from the foul line.
Thorn said she was successful offensively because she was more aggressive taking the ball to the basket than in the previous two meetings.
“When your shots are not falling you have to find points somewhere else,” she said. “And they were fouling me and if I pumped fake sometimes I could get them up. If I wasn’t going to make my shots I was going to get to the foul line and get some free ones.”
Although the Lobos were able to hamper the Cougars in the regular season, BYU won the game that counted and showed that defense does not always win championships.
“Every time we play BYU I wonder how we are going to stop them; this time we couldn’t,” Flanagan said.
