by Tom Sena
Daily Lobo
The UNM women's basketball team spent much of the game at the free-throw line and used that to its advantage in a 77-75 victory over the USC Trojans, Friday night at The Pit.
The Lobos tied a UNM record by making 33 free throws and broke a school record with 43 attempts.
Both teams had trouble establishing a lead early in the game, but UNM began to pull away with seven minutes left in the first half. With the score tied 15-15, the Lobos took the lead and slowly built it to nine points, 34-25, by the end of the first half.
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In a half marred by poor shooting, UNM separated itself from USC by making all 14 of its free-throw attempts.
USC, on the other hand, was three for eight from the foul line. The Trojans stayed in the game with aggressive offensive rebounding, gaining a 27 to 13 advantage on the boards.
"It's obvious that they're good rebounders and we need to work on blocking out," UNM head coach Don Flanagan said.
The Trojans began to chip away at the lead at the start of the second half, going on a 10-1 run to tie the game at 41. They finally took the lead with 10:47 left on a basket by forward Jamie Funn. The Trojans led by six points with just over five minutes remaining.
The Lobos answered the challenge by going on a 14-3 run to retake the lead, 73-68. Freshman Julie Briody went on her own 8-2 run during that stretch, hitting two free throws and two 3-pointers.
Briody finished with a team-high 18 points in her first career regular-season game. USC would not let the Lobos pull away though, scoring five straight points to tie the game once again, this time at 73 with 1:35 left in the game.
UNM guard Mandi Moore, who was held in check to that point, beat Rometra Craig off the dribble and scored on a reverse layup to give the Lobos the lead. After a missed 3-point shot by Moore, Craig was fouled and went to the free-throw line with the chance to tie the game with 35 seconds remaining. Craig sank both shots.
Briody then made an aggressive drive to the basket and got fouled with 22 seconds left.
"I was trying to take it strong because coach told us to take it to the basket," Briody said. "He knew that they would foul us." The freshman knocked down both free throws to give the Lobos a two-point lead.
But All-American candidate Ebony Hoffman nearly gave USC the win with five seconds left. Her 3-point attempt rimmed in and out as 11,000-plus Lobos fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Hoffman sat out much of the game because of foul trouble, only playing 27 minutes. Flanagan was pleased with the job his team did defending Hoffman.
"I don't know how many points she had," Flanagan said. "But she didn't have quite enough."
Hoffman finished with a game-high 19 points on eight of 14 shooting. UNM's next game will be Tuesday at The Pit against Cal-State Fullerton. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m.
