There were tears left, tears right and tears center.
At the end of the Lobos' 68-65 Senior Day win against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas on Saturday, the waterworks were flowing freely from fans, teammates and one of those who was honored - Mandi Moore.
Moore and fellow senior Lindsey Arndt said goodbye to four years at The Pit and four years with their fans.
"It's hard, it's hard," Moore said. "This is a great place. I was telling these guys (teammates) that when I got hurt the other day, I had e-mails and cards coming like crazy. I mean, they don't know really who I am. But their care and support for us - it's great."
Before their time at The Pit concluded, they still had a game to finish in the same fashion most of their games have ended the past four years: with a win.
First there was the explosive Arndt - a player head coach Don Flanagan said he expects to play most of every game doing just about everything a player can do - spinning, slicing and posting her way to 18 points and seven rebounds to surpass the 1,000-point milestone with 1,004. Her seven rebounds put her at seventh place all time for the women's program with 675.
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Then there was the sneaky Moore. Her stat line - six points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals - was nothing flashy, but translate those numbers into career stats and one might see how indelible a mark the 5-foot-7-inch guard has made on her coach and, judging by the tears, on the hearts of her fans.
She has 1,002 points, 550 rebounds and 623 assists and is the first player in men's or women's history to join the 1,000-point, 500-rebound, 500-assist club.
"Those two have been really important to the program for four years," Flanagan said. "In so many ways, they have been successful. Wherever they go, you know positive things are going to happen."
Moore refused to admit she was caught up in all the emotion surrounding Senior Day. To the senior who has started 119 of a possible 120 games, it was just another day on the court, just another game UNM needed to win.
"It was just taking care of business for me," she said. "It's not so much about losing on Senior Day. It's just winning to help ourselves in conference, because one more loss could hurt us. It was more about just taking care of business and finishing the game out than thinking about, 'Oh, we don't want to put a damper on Senior Day.'"
The all-business Moore said she was more relieved than ecstatic to get over the 1,000-point milestone. Now Abbie Letz, her roommate, will finally stop hounding her about it, she said.
"I'm glad that it can be done with and nobody has to talk about how I'm this close or that close," Moore said, cracking a smile when referring to how Letz got on her about the milestone at home all the time.
Arndt, 14 points away from the 1,000-point hump before the game, said she wasn't worrying about achieving the milestone at home.
"I honestly didn't think I'd get it, and I didn't want to stress about it because then I would put more pressure on myself," she said. "I just let it come to me, and it did. I thought it would be neat for Mandi and I both to get it on Senior Day."
Judging by the tears, neat was probably an understatement.
