Nobody likes to audition to have their damning ghosts exposed in the public sphere any day - let alone every day.
But every game the UNM women's basketball team plays is an audition. And here's what the Lobos put on exhibition on Wednesday against San Diego State:
With the Lobos down 56-52, Amy Beggin whittled her way into the lane and drew a foul. The 90-percent free-throw shooter made the first one and then uncharacteristically missed the second. But the ball bounced off an SDSU player.
With the ball set to be inbounded, the Lobos had one time-out left. Flanagan opted to keep it in his back pocket.
"I had a play set up already for a 3-point shot," Flanagan said. "I was hoping to hit that and then we might have called a time-out. I was playing one play ahead. They knew the play - it was a play that we normally get a 3-point shot, but Paris Johnson pushed through. She had to push through two stagger screens to get there and she got there."
Nobody could get open for a trey - not Angela Hartill, not Beggin. So, Beggin forced a contested layup. She missed with 17 seconds left but got her own rebound. And even more frantically, the Lobos, clearly disorganized, tried to improvise. Result: Beggin's desperation three was partially blocked by Jennifer Layton-Bailes.
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"Maybe in retrospect - I didn't want to burn that last time-out on that particular play, but maybe we should have," Flanagan said.
Not a big deal, right? It was only the Lobos' third loss of the season and the first in 12 games at The Pit.
Had to happen sometime. And Flanagan gave a sensible, justifiable answer.
"You're worried about losing as opposed to playing to win," he said.
In essence, the loss was nothing more than a pixel in the larger context of a picture.
But what's more troubling for the Lobos is how dangerously dependent they are on Beggin.
Flanagan knows, too.
"Amy was bringing it up all the time, and Amy is one of our main scorers," he said. "Plus, she's our best defender; she has to defend their best kid. Then, she's bringing it up under pressure throughout the game, and she's getting screened, and then she's chasing that kid around, and then we expect her to score. That's a problem. She can't do it all."
Oh, Beggin got her requisite double-figure numbers - 13 points - for the 16th time in 17 games this season. She also took 40 minutes to get them - Beggin played the entire game. It was the 22nd time she has done so and the fifth time she has gone the distance this season.
Perhaps those minutes are starting to wear on Beggin. On Wednesday, she was 3-of-7 from the field in the first half. Half No. 2, she went 1-of-6 and didn't have the spunk to rise above her defender on that last shot.
Tugging on the jersey is an indication to a coach that it's time for a sub. Maybe somebody should tap Beggin on the shoulder and inform her.
"I don't really like to say I'm tired," she said.
Better yet, maybe some of Beggin's teammates should help her out.
"We need other people to start scoring," Flanagan said.
