For four seniors, Saturday was the last game they would play at The Pit.
Amy Beggin, Jessica Kielpinski, Valerie Kast and Georonika Jackson finished the afternoon the same way they started — with a 16-3 run.
That, coupled with BYU’s appalling shooting, propelled the UNM women’s basketball team to a 62-30 win inside The Pit on Saturday.
“We did a good job of getting out to a good start, and then we did a good job of not letting them back in the game,” said senior point guard Beggin. “We really executed well today and really finished it well. So, that is something we have to continue to do if we want to be successful.”
The Lobos (17-10, 9-6 Mountain West Conference) remain in for fourth place in the MWC standings with TCU (11-3), BYU (9-5) and Utah (9-5) in front of them.
With only one game before the MWC tournament, head coach Don Flanagan said it will make the ride a lot easier if the Lobos can sneak into the No. 3 spot.
“It does matter what seed you are if you are one, two or three, because you have a little bit better road,” he said. “But if you are four through nine, it is a tough road to get through.”
The top two teams don’t play until the semifinal round, while the third seed gets a first-round goodbye in the tournament.
While the only thing that can help their seeding now is another win, the Lobos did all they could to send a message to the conference that they can throttle any team.
The Lobos jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game.
After seven grueling minutes, the Cougars scored their first basket. UNM jumped out to an 18-3 lead, then a 23-5 lead and went into the break with a 30-11 lead.
BYU (18-8, 9-5 MWC) struggled from the field, making only three field goals (all layups) in the first half. The other five points came from the free-throw line.
Aside from shooting 3-of-23 from the field and missing all nine of their 3-point attempts, the Cougars gave the ball away 12 times in the first half.
Flanagan said the Lobos had something to do with that.
“Basically, we defended their shooter and didn’t give them any good looks,” Flanagan said. “I mean, they didn’t get a lot of good looks. We got over screens, around screens, under screens — anything we could do. We switched at times, hedged at times and talked at times. And that was pretty much successful.”
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But knowing the inconsistencies of this season’s team, Flanagan said he is worried going into the locker room with a large lead.
“This year, when we are up 19 at halftime, I am scared, because we usually come out in the first four minutes and don’t score,” Flanagan said. “But at half time what you are trying to do is tell them that the game is not over. And a lot of times, you get a big lead like that and kids kick back.”
As it turned out, the Lobos could have kicked back the rest of the way on offense.
BYU had to claw its way just to get to 30 points, a score the Lobos took into halftime.
BYU ended the night stuck at 30, shooting 18.4 percent — both season lows. The Cougars hit only nine field goals. They had five lay ups, four 3-pointers and eight free throws. They didn’t hit a mid-range jump shot all night.
Even so, the Lobos never let mercy prevail.
Leading 46-27 with eight minutes left, the Lobos unleashed an onslaught of 3s, extending the margin even further. Their largest lead of 32 didn’t come until the end of the game.
Kielpinski ended with a game-high 14 points. Sara Halasz had 12. And Kast — the 6-foot 6-inch center — had eight points, including a 3-pointer late in the game.
“It was a very exciting game,” Kast said. “Maybe that was the reason I was overly excited to shoot the basketball. I wanted to finish my season at The Pit on a really good note, and I think we accomplished that as a team.”
