There's a good reason rust isn't one of the colors of the UNM women's basketball team.
Well, sort of.
The Lobos ripped the West Coast All-Stars in an exhibition game at The Pit on Tuesday, 85-55, but a sloppy second half proved the team has some work to do before it suits up for its regular season opener at New Mexico State on Nov. 20.
"I thought we were ahead of schedule up until today," head coach Don Flanagan said.
After a first half in which UNM jumped out to leads of 19-4 and 32-9 and lead 42-11 at halftime, the All-Stars played up to their namesake in the second half, outscoring the Lobos 44-43.
"We had a good first half and then we lost our focus a bit," Flanagan said. "We got a lot of players that can contribute, but they gotta understand that I'm not going to always be able to play for a team, and if they're not playing well, they're not going to play much or at all."
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Junior Abbie Letz's 17 points tied for game high with the All-Stars' ReShaunda Richardson, a 2001 graduate of Mountain West Conference foe Utah.
Sophomore Fatima Maddox started at point guard and chipped in 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting to go along with her game-high seven rebounds.
Maddox's quick feet helped break the All-Star press, something that came as a bit of a surprise, especially since UNM hadn't practiced trying to break a press until Tuesday's practice before the game, Flanagan said.
When Maddox was out of the game - she played only 23 minutes - the second team had trouble with the press. The All-Stars' full-court defense left the game more like a free-for-all than anything else.
Mandi Moore said she didn't know if that was the worst attempt at running a pressbreaker the team has made.
"It was pretty bad," she said. "It was kind of wild out there, I'll admit."
Flanagan was irked by more than just the Lobos' ability - or lack thereof - to handle the press. He said his team hasn't developed a good enough habit of blocking out for rebounds and has to be smarter about fouls.
UNM committed 20 fouls to the All-Stars' 28, and was outrebounded offensively, 19-12.
The Lobos stay home for one more game, taking on Houston Flight in their last exhibition match on Monday.
