by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
Keep the Aggies from crashing the offensive boards.
That's the advice UNM women's basketball head coach Don Flanagan gave to his players in the week leading up to the game against New Mexico State.
In the Lobos' 81-47 victory over the Aggies on Saturday at The Pit, rebounding was one of the reasons NMSU never challenged UNM.
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Lobo guard Julie Briody said the team was prepared to battle with the Aggies for each rebound.
"Going into the game, coach wanted to make sure we knew they were a scrappy team, and that they were going to fight for every rebound," she said. "That was just a point of emphasis we focused on during practice this week."
Through the first six games of the season, NMSU had outrebounded its opponents 82-80 on the offensive end. And although the Aggies finished with 14 offensive rebounds compared to UNM's 12, the Lobos held an overall edge of 49-37.
More importantly, UNM limited NMSU's opportunities to score off misses. UNM grabbed 37 defensive rebounds and held the Aggies to just six second-chance points.
Flanagan said the Lobos executed the game plan he set up for them.
"We wanted to make sure that they didn't get a lot of offensive rebounds. They're quite good at getting offensive boards," he said. "Rebounding and transition defense was an emphasis for the week."
UNM forward Dionne Marsh said having a rebounding edge comes down to being more physical than the other team.
"Coach is real big on blocking out," she said. "That's how you get a lot of defensive boards - making sure you just get a body on one of the players."
While Marsh and the rest of the Lobos' post players have been effective rebounders this season, UNM had strong contributions on the boards from its guards Saturday.
Briody, Katie Montgomery and Brandi Kimble grabbed 21 of the Lobos' rebounds against
the Aggies.
All six of Briody's rebounds came on the defensive end, as did seven of Montgomery's eight.
The Lobos knew they were going to have to battle with the Aggies' guards, and the UNM post players did a good job of setting up the Lobo guards to grab boards, Briody said.
"Our posts do a good job of boxing out, as well," she said. "If they box out, it's easier for us to run in and get rebounds. We knew,
especially this game, that their guards were looking to rebound."
UNM didn't allow NMSU to run up and down the court, which was another reason it had a solid rebounding game.
The Lobos held the Aggies to seven fast-break points.
Briody said UNM had a solid rebounding game and needs to keep it up in the future.
"Overall, it was a good effort," she said. "Hopefully, that will continue."
