LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Even though the UNM women's basketball team finished exactly where it was predicted to in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll - fourth place - head coach Don Flanagan feels disrespected.
"The Mountain West said it was a three-team tournament," he said. "That kind of offended me. We've won it five of the last six years. We shouldn't be sneaking up on anybody. Everybody should know we're pretty good."
Well, at least Flanagan can rest assured knowing that co-regular-season champion Utah and Utes coach Elaine Elliott have the utmost reverence for UNM.
"Certainly they should be respected," Elliott said. "It's (going to be) a quality game. They're so competitive. It's anybody's game."
Amy Beggin said respect is something you have to earn.
"You can't really complain about lack of respect," she said. "If we beat Utah, we will earn that respect again."
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Of course, the Lobos are back-to-back tournament champions.
"I don't really think we ever count ourselves out," Beggin said. "We know that this has been our time of the year. We just try to go out and play for our basketball lives."
If UNM wants to keep on breathing in the tourney, it will have to do something it wasn't able to do in two previous games: beat the Utes.
On both occasions, the Lobos were crushed in the last seconds of the game, coming out with three-point losses in the two contests.
At The Pit, UNM seemed to have the game wrapped up, but a turnover by Amanda Adamson allowed the Utes to tie the game at 50 apiece.
And like she did all year, Utah's Morgan Warburton buried UNM, hitting a running 3-pointer in the waning moments of the game, giving Utah a 53-50 victory. Warburton scored 39 combined points in two games against the Lobos.
Beggin said collaring Warburton is the most important factor in Friday's matchup.
"I think if I shut her down, we have a really good chance to win," Beggin said.
Beggin said she would sacrifice some of her offensive potency if it meant Warburton didn't score. It's a matter of give and take, she said.
"All five players on our team are a threat to score when they're out there," Beggin said. "If they can just step up and hit some shots, it'd be really big."
Two games into the tournament, UNM's defense has been suffocating. The Lobos limited Colorado State to 48 points and Air Force to just 41.
But doing that Friday will be a difficult task, Flanagan said.
Still, he has some tricks defensively, but Flanagan said he wouldn't unveil his master plan to eliminate Warburton's scoring.
"We're not giving away any secrets," he said, cracking a smile. "No one's really figured that one out. I think you probably have to double team her."
And the secrecy's mutual. When asked what Utah would do to get Warburton open against a double team, Elliott shrugged her shoulders.
"We just have to run our offense," she said.
