If the UNM women’s basketball players didn’t know who Toni Young is, they sure do now.
And the Lobos won’t forget her for a long time.
Young, a 6-foot-2-inch forward, dominated the Lobos with 25 points and 10 boards helping the Cowgirls escape with a 74-65 double overtime victory at The Pit on Saturday.
UNM’s head coach Don Flanagan said Young created nightmarish problems for the Lobos in the post.
“The big kid really hurt us inside,” he said. “We were at a big-time disadvantage in the post play. They really saw that and took advantage of that.”
The extra-time contest came in the championship game of the Holiday Inn Express-Midtown Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Lobos defeated San Francisco 73-38 on Friday night to advance to the championship game of the tournament, which also featured Rhode Island.
It’s not that the Lobos didn’t challenge the Cowgirls; Flanagan said that rebounding, however, is one of UNM’s flaws early in this season.
“Offensive rebound is what really hurt us,” he said. “They had 19, and we had five. We didn’t block out well in the second half. I think it was three to two in the second and (UNM) only had two in the second half and they had about 15. When you give them second-shot opportunities, you don’t have to shoot at a high percentage to be successful.”
Junior guard Lauren Taylor put up 15 points while playing nearly the entire game.
Taylor said the Lobo squad that played the Cowgirls will be the same team that shows up the rest of the season.
“It’s just a completely different team,” Taylor said. “I think if you put us back in front of Texas Tech, it would be a totally different game. I think we have just gained so much in confidence.”
Guard Amanda Best, who nabbed 11 rebounds, said she was pleased with the effort the Lobos showed Saturday.
“I just love this team because we’re such fighters,” she said. “We’re never going to give up, and we showed that tonight. That team is really tall, and we’re so undersized, and we kept battling. We did lose, but we showed we’re a tough team to beat and that nobody is going to come in here and beat us easily.”
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Flanagan said the team is improving and can be tough to beat wherever they play.
“We’re a much better team than we were two weeks ago,” he said. “I’m not disappointed in our effort. I think we are OK. A few of them made some errors and feel bad about that, but it’s a long season.”
*Women’s Basketball at NMSU
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Las Cruces, N.M.*
