LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Somebody from the UNM women's basketball team must have hit the arcade-style button on the basketball goals at the Thomas and Mack Center on Wednesday, when the Lobos faced No. 8 Colorado State in the Mountain West Conference quarterfinals.
For much of the contest, the Lobos looked like they were shooting on a midway hoop equipped with rotating rims. But thankfully for UNM, the rims softened in time for the Lobos to pull out a 62-48 victory.
"You really have to focus on the rim," head coach Don Flanagan said.
UNM can now size up No. 1 Utah, which beat the Lobos twice, each time by three points.
Through the first 30 minutes of Wednesday's game, UNM shot just 26.9 percent and held only a 34-31 lead heading into the home stretch. But the Lobos exorcised those shooting demons in time to advance to the semifinals, putting the Rams away by going 9-of-16 over the final 10 minutes.
Flanagan said he was somewhat befuddled how the Lobos could go from shooting 50 percent on Tuesday to almost half that on Wednesday.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"That's a good question," he said. "You never know from game to game how the kids are going to react to it. I think there was a little bit more run-out pressure on us. I thought there defense was quite good. If you have free shooting, you're usually pretty accurate. But then somebody puts their hands up, and it drops down about 10 percent. And then somebody that's all over you, it'll probably drop down another 10 percent."
Up until the last five minutes of the game, when Amy Beggin scored 12 of her 20 points, the Lobos looked like a plane with one turbine.
Beggin couldn't get going offensively in the first half.
Tuesday, Beggin chipped 18 points in an 84-41 spanking of Air Force. Beggin shot a fiery 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, but at halftime of Wednesday's contest, she had six points on 2-of-6 shooting from long distance.
But Angela Harthill provided enough propulsion to lift the Lobos out of their shooting rut. Harthill concluded the game with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists, many of which came when she was doubled-teamed.
Despite Harthill's towering presence - and the Rams' small stature - she amassed much of her point total from the perimeter, hitting two 3-pointers and a collection of 10- to 15-foot jumpers.
"I felt like that was the only thing that was open," Harthill said. "Since the double came from the other post player, I thought it'd be best just to clear them out so I could find the other post player that was open. That's basically what I tried to do."
Flanagan said Harthill make the correct choice, given the Rams' defensive schemes.
"Usually, we're trying to take what they give us," Flanagan said. "They were doubling a little bit and being physical with her. And I allow the player to determine that. She's a player that's an inside-out player. One thing I thought they did well was mix up their zone and man. We were running pretty well against their man, and then all of a sudden there was a man. I think that gets us to slow up a little bit. Ang just figured it out. I figured she'd start hitting sooner or later."
