by Matthew Kappus
Daily Lobo
In the championship game of the Lobo Shootout, the UNM women's basketball team was down by 10 early on.
But the Lobos clawed their way back to a 76-63 victory over the Towson Tigers on Saturday at The Pit.
The Tigers jumped to a first-half lead by shooting 71 percent from field-goal range.
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Led by guard Shanae Baker-Brice, Towson's offense had little trouble with the Lobos' man-to-man defense at the start.
Baker-Brice finished the game with 12 points and nine assists.
The Tigers finished the game with just 13 turnovers.
UNM head coach Don Flanagan said the Tigers' speed bothered the Lobos, but they were able
to adjust.
"I'm not so satisfied we had to go to a zone, but that's the way it goes sometimes," he said. "Sometimes matchups aren't perfect."
Flanagan said Towson looked different from the previous night, when it beat Southern University 57-50.
"They sure fooled me, because last night they turned the ball over 29 times," he said. "They didn't seem to play as hard last night, and all of a sudden they come to and execute their offense very, very well."
After starting the game 31 percent from the field, the Lobos finished the first half on a 10-0 run with help from Amy Beggin, who shot 4-of-9 from 3-point range.
The Lobo guard finished the game with 27 points.
In the second half, the Lobos homed in on defense after switching to a zone and stopped the open shots Towson got in the first half.
Flanagan also used the Lobos' height advantage to score baskets inside the paint.
UNM extended its seven-point halftime lead to 11 points in the second half behind Dionne Marsh's 20 points and Jessica
Kielpinski's 10.
"Jessica was open quite a bit - but there's a reason for that," Flanagan said. "It's because they were leaving Jessica to go get Dionne, and that's going to happen the whole year."
Flanagan said the Lobos will continue to rely on Kielpinski this year when Marsh is double-teamed. Flanagan said Kielpinski made some key plays against the Tigers.
"She's got great hands," he said. "She catches almost anything you throw her."
With the Lobo lead growing to double-digits in the second half, the tenacious Tigers would not go away. The Lobo lead dwindled to four with 11 minutes remaining in the game.
"I thought they would tire in the second half, but they didn't," Flanagan said.
Any hope of a comeback for the Tigers was dashed by solid free-throw shooting by the Lobos, who shot 18-of-23 from the line.
"They showed us tonight they had a lot of heart," Beggin said. "Our wings are having a little bit of trouble getting open, so I think we need to make some more back cuts and just look to the middle more for our posts."
Women's basketball vs. Arizona
Saturday, 7 p.m.
The Pit
