LAS VEGAS — The Lobos’ seed was unfamiliar, but the outcome was familiar.
The seventh-seeded UNM women’s basketball — unfazed by its lowest seed since the Mountain West Conference’s inception — took its first step toward winning a sixth tournament championship with a 65-57 win over sixth-seeded San Diego State on Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Freshman Jasmine Patterson had a game-high 21 points, and guard Amanda Best pitched in 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Lobos.
“I like March tournaments for some reason,” head coach Don Flanagan said. “I think our players like March tournaments.
Usually our players feel like they want to play more games at this time of the year. They’re not burned out.”
UNM will face a No. 3 Wyoming today at 8 p.m. The Lobos lost both games against Wyoming during the regular season.
To get there, the Lobos, now 21-6 in the MWC tournament since its inception, took out the defending tournament champs, who made a Sweet 16 appearance last season. For the first time since 2007, the Aztecs will not appear in the conference championship.
SDSU head coach Beth Burns said her team’s offense sputtered.
“I’m disappointed when we’re not successful, but I’m not surprised,” she said, deadpan.
Both teams were sloppy early on, and it seemed the Lobos forgot to unpack their game.
Five minutes into the contest, UNM had just one basket from the field and were down 10-3.
Then UNM turned the switch and lit up the Thomas & Mack Center with a 17-0 first-half run that gave them a double-digit lead. Forward Jessica Kielpinski’s outside shooting touch sparked the Lobos’ run, as she shot a perfect 2-of-2 from the beyond the 3-point line.
“I think at the beginning of the game we were a little bit flustered,” she said. “With the run, I think we kind of gained a bit of confidence.”
Kielpiniski also cleaned up on the boards and was the catalyst for quick transition buckets. She found open teammates, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds.
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SDSU’s Sajoyia Griffin ended the drought with an inside layup, the Aztecs first points in nearly 10 minutes.
It was more of the same in the second half.
After a Lauren Taylor steal, Patterson took a full-court pass and ran ahead of her defender for an open layup, but a SDSU defender bear-hugged Paterson midair and was called for an intentional foul with 7:26 in the second half.
Patterson hit both free throws, took an inbounds pass on the next possession and hit an open jumper to extend the Lobos’ lead to 43-33.
“Jasmine is a scorer,” Flanagan said. “Really, she’s a player that has some limitations skill-wise, because she hasn’t really worked on parts of her game, but she’s a heck of a competitor with a great shot.”
Patterson played all 40 minutes and outplayed SDSU Courtney Clements, who was named the MWC Newcomer of the Year. Clements was 2-of-11 from the field and finished with just five points.
Guard Coco Davis led SDSU in scoring with 15 points, and Paris Johnson had a double-double (14 points and 11 rebounds) in the final game of her college careers. Senior Jessica Bradley sat out because of a violation of team rules.
