This season might be a rebuilding year, but the UNM women's basketball team has history on its side.
For the past 11 seasons, there hasn't been much to cry about - or, for that matter, in the last 13 seasons under head coach Don Flanagan.
UNM enters this season looking to capture its sixth Mountain West Conference title in the last seven seasons.
The Lobos will also try to make an eighth straight NCAA tournament appearance.
UNM among only 13 programs nationally to make seven straight trips to the Big Dance.
The Lobos have three returning starters in All-MWC junior guard Amy Beggin and seniors Angela Hartill and Amanda Adamson.
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Beggin, who provides not only a defensive presence, returns as the second-leading scorer on the team.
Last season she averaged 10.9 points per game and finished the season with 141 assists, 52 steals and 117 rebounds.
Hartill is a physical player in the post, but her versatility allows her to play in the outside.
She averaged 6.4 points, three rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in her junior year.
But the Lobos will go without sophomore Porche Torrance for the 2008-09 season.
Torrance tore her ACL on Wednesday at practice.
"(Torrance) wasn't a starter, but she certainly was a player," Flanagan said. "She was going to get minutes because she has speed and is a versatile player I was depending on. Eventually, this year I wanted her to defend the other team's better offensive players because of her length. She can block shots, and, unfortunately, that takes that away from us."
But other sophomores will step up in Torrance's absence.
Amanda Best, Jessica Kielpinski and Kelsey Ansley return after their first years at UNM.
Kielpinski and Ansley are looking to provide UNM with a presence inside the paint.
Kielpinski, who started four games last season, averaged five points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
Ansley's numbers were lower with 1.5 points and 1.2 rebounds per game.
Best is a shooter and will look to become more of a threat from the outside.
Redshirt freshman Nikki Nelson is coming off a knee injury, but she is a great ball handler and will battle for playing time at the guard position with Beggin.
The Lobos added two newcomers for the 2008-09 season - freshmen Sara Halasz and Lauren Taylor.
Halasz and Taylor have a great ability to score and will look to replace all-time leading scorer Dionne Marsh and three-point specialist Brandi Kimble.
Kimble led the team with 52 3-pointers in 2007-08.
Because of her size, 6-feet-6-inch Valerie Kast will likely be the starting center.
The junior did not start any games last year but made 22 appearances.
Kast averaged 2.3 points and one rebound per game last year for UNM.
UNM is scheduled to play 29 games in the 2008-09 season, including 13 non-conference opponents from the Pac-10, Big 12 and Big East conferences.
The Lobos will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., to face the Stanford Cardinal for only the second time in school history.
The Cardinal are coming off a national championship loss to the Tennessee Volunteers.
Before opening up the regular season, the Lobos won two exhibition games, against the Melbourne Roos and the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
UNM easily subdued Melbourne 84-41 Tuesday at The Pit.
In her Lobo debut, Halasz scored 18 points.
The Lobos followed up the win by beating Alaska-Anchorage on Sunday. The Seawolves came into the game ranked No. 5 in Division II women's basketball.
"(UAA) is a physical team and they play good defense," Flanagan said. "They are hard-nosed, blue-collar, and they got a couple kids that can play hard."
UNM struggled in the first half against Alaska-Anchorage and failed to make wide-open shots.
The Lobos trailed the Seawolves at 28-25 half.
UAA did not step off the gas pedal. The Seawolves played tough and gritty in the second half.
UNM rallied, and the game got tight with less than 10 minutes to go under the veteran leadership of Beggin and Hartill.
Hartill hit a jumper from the left corner to tie the game at 47 apiece with 4:54 left in the game.
The Lobos never looked back and hit a series of free throws to win the game with a final score of 60-49.
The Lobos shot 25.8 percent from the field.
"We lost a lot of really close games last year, and today, we were able to push through and finish," Hartill said. "This was a good sign for us. We calmed down, came together as a team and finished the game strong."
