by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
The UNM women's basketball team relied on its stingy defense to win the Albuquerque Midtown Tournament this weekend.
After a 79-49 trouncing of Nicholls State in the first round Friday, the Lobos topped Oregon 65-46 in the championship game Saturday to clinch the title.
"Our defensive effort was terrific," head coach Don Flanagan said. "Oregon's not an easy team to defend. They run good stuff. They set good screens. They're quick. They have players that can shoot the three, and they have the size inside off the boards."
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The UNM offense came out slow in the first half, shooting just 33 percent from the field and 1-of-9 from behind the arc.
The Ducks tied the game at 16 with 4:08 remaining in the first half, but the Lobos went on an 8-0 run, heading into the locker room up 24-16.
Senior forward Dionne Marsh took just one shot during the first half despite playing all 20 minutes.
"I was kind of frustrated with myself for not having the best first half," Marsh said. "I have to start working on taking my outside shot more and making people respect it if they're going to double-team me."
UNM came out on fire in the second half, increasing its lead to double digits.
Oregon pulled within six when Taylor Lilley and Micaela Cocks hit consecutive threes on a single possession. A foul was called on the Lobos while Lilley's shot was in the air, creating the six-point run and trimming the UNM lead to 34-28.
The Lobos responded with a 13-5 run of their own, spurred by Marsh's first basket of the game, a Brandi Kimble 3-pointer and a technical foul against the Ducks' bench.
Later in the half, Marsh went on a scoring run of her own, chipping in three baskets in a row to expand the Lobo lead to 54-38 with 5:20
remaining.
"They were defending Dionne well," Flanagan said. "Every time she touched the ball, they would double-team her. But she had some key baskets late in the second half, and that's when we started to pull away."
Despite being outsized and outweighed by Oregon's post players, UNM outrebounded the
Ducks 45-37.
"It was a very physical game," Flanagan said. "I was happy with the way we rebounded. We had 16 offensive boards compared to their 13, and we outrebounded them by eight. I think we did a good job of blocking out and just being
aggressive inside the paint."
The Lobos also shot uncharacteristically poorly from the free-throw line. Sophomore guard Amy Beggin was 9-for-10 from the charity stripe, while the rest of the team went 7-for-19.
"Evidently, we haven't worked enough on free-throw shooting," Flanagan said. "That's why I couldn't take Amy out of the game. She was the only one making free throws."
Beggin finished with a game-high 17 points. Marsh added 11 points and a game-high six rebounds. Kimble chipped in nine points. Angela Hartill and Amanda Adamson finished with seven points each.
Beggin was also named the tournament's MVP. Marsh and Hartill earned spots on the All-Tournament team.
"In the beginning of the year, I wasn't so sure we could defend," Flanagan said. "Now I know that we can. We still have some work to do, but I'm really happy with our effort. It's a good win for us."
Women's
basketball at NMSU
Sunday, 3 p.m.
Las Cruces
