All the players are the same — it’s only the minutes that will change.
The Lobo lineup will remain intact when the UNM women’s basketball team (4-2) travels to NMSU on Wednesday, but point guard Amy Beggin will see diminished minutes due to a fatigued ankle — the same ankle she had minor surgery on in the offseason, said head coach Don Flanagan.
Beggin, who played nearly 40 minutes per game last year, started off the season in similar fashion, playing all but two minutes through UNM’s first three games. She took it easy over the break, playing 24 minutes in wins against Northern Arizona and North Carolina A&T.
Yet, in a back-and-forth, narrow loss to Toledo on Saturday, Flanagan left Beggin in for the whole game, a decision he said he regrets.
“We are thankful now that (Beggin’s ankle) is improving,” Flanagan said. “We see an improvement even though she went 40 minutes the other day. I’ll do my best to not let her go 40 minutes again. I made a mistake in that game.”
This week, Beggin has not been going full speed in practice, and if it wasn’t for such a full schedule, Flanagan said he would like her to rest.
“If I was a doctor, they would probably say, ‘Try not to play in games and rest as much as possible,’” Flanagan said. “That would probably do her good. Unfortunately, we have a lot of games going on.”
Though clearly not 100 percent evidenced by her diminished practice habits, Beggin downplayed the severity of her ankle injury and said she would be ready for the Aggies.
“When you put the uniform on, the adrenaline kind of kicks in. You don’t really feel anything,” Beggin said. “So, I will be 100 percent for Wednesday. When it is game time, I will be ready.”
The Lobos aren’t used to having a five-man lineup that does not include the senior point guard.
Flanagan said the transition game will be hit the hardest with her having a diminished role.
“In half court, we will be just fine,” Flanagan said. “But I think transition-wise she seems to spot the open player pretty well and get things running, and also her transition — getting a steal and taking off.”
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Seven games into the season, guard Sara Halasz, who averages 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, said it’s better to have Beggin rest now, rather than during conference play.
“We all go in working hard,” Halasz said. “Amy is a powerhouse on this team, but, then again, we do have other people who can score and other people can contribute, and we need Amy to rest up. These games are just to build up our confidence and our momentum for conference.”
The Aggies (4-2) have losses against North Dakota and Cal Poly. Yet, NMSU is coming off a narrow five-point victory over Michigan, in which the Aggies shot more than 50 percent from the field.
The Aggies are led by guards Madison Spence and Danisha Corbett. Both average over 12 points per game.
But the Lobos have a nearly impeccable record against NMSU. They’ve won 25 of the last 26 matchups against the Aggies.
Still, Flanagan said the Lobos can’t take the Aggies lightly, since the Lobos’ lone loss to the Aggies came just two years ago at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces.
“I don’t think we are going to be overconfident with them,” he said. “When you look at them on tape, you can see that they give great effort and play tough, hard-nosed defense, and they have the ability to score. They’ll scrap. They are the type of team that is tough to play against, because they don’t give
an inch.”
*Women’s basketball vs. NMSU
Wednesday
7 p.m.
Las Cruces*
