by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
Dionne Marsh was not going to let Tiffany Jackson come to her home court and leave with a win.
Marsh, the UNM women's basketball team's junior forward, was the key to the Lobos' 63-60 victory over Jackson and the No. 25 Texas Longhorns on Friday at The Pit.
Marsh had perhaps her best all-around game of the season so far, leading No. 23 UNM with 20 points and chipping in six rebounds.
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She also had two steals and forced Longhorns' Erika Arriaran to miss a shot in the closing seconds to help secure the victory.
UNM head coach Don Flanagan said Marsh was ready for the challenge of facing Jackson and the Longhorns.
"She plays well against Texas,"
he said.
Statistically, Marsh did not have her most efficient game from the field. She finished 5-for-18 shooting and turned over the ball twice.
However, she made shots in the second half when Texas was closing the UNM lead and finished 10-for-13 from the free-throw line.
Marsh said she was happy to contribute to the win.
"It's just knowing what your team needs from you and hopefully being able to produce," she said. "I wasn't really shooting that well. I just happened to make them when
it counted.
While Marsh's 20 points were a team high, Flanagan said the team should've given her the ball in the post more often.
"They couldn't guard her," he said. "The only problem is we couldn't get the ball in enough. When we got it in to her, we had a much better chance of scoring."
Jackson, on the other hand, had a strong game for Texas. The Longhorns' forward - who was averaging 23 points per game heading into Friday's contest - finished with a game-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Flanagan said Jackson had a
solid game.
"She had a heck of a game, too," he said. "She and Dionne (Marsh) almost nullified each other."
Still, the points did not come easy. Marsh and Jackson had a physical battle inside for most of the game, and at one point, Jackson became so frustrated that she was whistled for a technical foul.
Marsh said the physical play was just part of the game.
"It's just friendly play," she said. "We go back and forth at each other, and that's just one thing that makes the game fun."
Flanagan said it was a good matchup between Marsh and
Jackson.
"It was great to watch two
outstanding post players go at each other," he said. "It was very
physical inside."
Marsh said the rough play is what helped her get going.
"This is a physical game," she said. "When you're getting shoved around, it just kind of fires you up to get ready to make some baskets."
Defensively, Marsh is usually assigned to the post. But at the end of the game, Marsh put pressure on Arriaran, who missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game.
Marsh said she was ready to defend against the deep shot.
"It was basically just defend the 3," she said. "We knew she's a good shooter. She's proven that. So with a player like that, you just got to do whatever you need to do just to stop her from making that shot."
