With 18 seconds left in the Lobos' 68-65 win against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas on Saturday, senior captain Mandi Moore went to the line and tried to put the Lobos up by three.
The fourth-best free-throw shooter in UNM women's basketball history at the line in the waning seconds? Easy. Cake. Game over.
First free throw: a clang off the back iron. Second: repeat.
Uh-oh.
The Rebels got the ball back, but UNLV guard Sheena Moore was forced into an errant shot by a swarming Lobo defense.
UNM still had to inbound the ball with 1.5 seconds left on the clock. Junior guard Abbie Letz threw it in, and who of all people should be on the receiving end? Dionne Marsh - a freshman, a 67.9 percent free-throw shooter.
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Two made free throws later, the Lobos were ahead by three, and UNM's Moore was letting out a shriek of elation with maybe a hint of relief.
Game over. Whew.
"I choked," Moore said. "That was bad. Two of probably the most crucial free throws I missed. After I missed the first one, it was in my head."
Even head coach Don Flanagan said he couldn't have felt more comfortable with anybody but Moore going to the line to ice the game.
"Yeah, that might have been a senior nervous moment," he said. "I'm hoping that's her last one."
In a game that pitted the Lobos against one of only two teams in the Mountain West Conference to hand them a loss, UNM received plenty of help from senior Lindsey Arndt, who finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Flanagan said he expects a lot out of Arndt, from playing defense against the opposing team's best player to rebounding. All that work with little rest - she played 36 minutes - left Arndt huffing and puffing for air, Flanagan said.
"There was some tired bodies out there," he said. "Lindsey never gets tired, and I said, 'Linds, are you tired?' And she said, 'Yeah.' So I took her out and we got her back in with two minutes to go."
Those last two minutes were more of a back-and-forth slugfest than a basketball game, with six lead changes occurring in the final 2:17.
The run-and-gun style of play UNLV brought to The Pit is something Arndt said she'd be happy to never see again.
"I don't want to play them anymore," she said. "I don't like the matchup with them, and I don't like how quick they are and how fast they are. As far as I'm concerned, I'd be perfectly fine being done playing them."
The win keeps UNM in first place in the Mountain West Conference because the Lobos hold the tiebreaker against Utah despite the two teams having the same conference record. The Lobos swept the Utes this season.
Moore and Arndt both reached the 1,000-point milestone in front of their family and friends who had come out for Senior Day.
Moore is the only player in Lobo history - man or woman - to score 1,000 points, grab 500 rebounds and dish out 500 assists.
