The women’s basketball team has a chance to add to its record five MWC tournament titles tonight.
The Lobos (9-19, 3-11) are the seven seed and take on No.2 UNLV (22-8, 10-4) in the first round of the MWC tournament at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev.
UNM has had a difficult season, but head coach Yvonne Sanchez said that during the tournament it doesn’t matter what the record was throughout the regular season.
“We’ve had some injuries, we have had some mistakes, but it’s a whole new season,” she said. “The knowledge of UNLV and some different things we have adjusted that we’re going to run against them. We feel good about it.”
UNM hasn’t won the conference tournament since 2008 and failed to beat UNLV in both meetings this year. The Lobos lost on the road 65-60 and at home 64-50.
Sanchez has had as little as seven healthy players for games this season, and the team has had a week-long break after playing its last game against Air Force a week ago.
Sanchez said the break helped the team get back to almost full strength.
“They have had a lot of days off, so the nice thing is they have had chance to heal up and energize,” Sanchez said.
Lobos were in a similar situation in last year’s tournament when they were also the seven seed. They went on to beat San Diego State and Wyoming, but fell to TCU in the semifinal.
Sanchez said the team is confident they can have a repeat performance of last year.
“This first one I think we can get and we are preparing for them (UNLV),” Sanchez said. “I think they (the team) feel they can get this win.”
The game is technically a home game for UNLV, but in years past the Lobo fans have come out in large numbers to support the team.
Senior forward Porche Torrance said she expects more Lobo fans to be in attendance than UNLV fans.
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“I think we will have a bigger crowd,” she said. “Our fans normally always come down and support us if we are winning or losing.”
Torrance was named the defensive player of the year in the MWC after recording 68 blocks this season and is averaging 12.2 points per game. She has 145 blocks in her career and is second all-time blocker at UNM.
Torrance said if the Lobos limit their mistakes, they have a good chance of winning the game.
“We just have to come out and set the tone early,” she said. “If we do that, I think everything else will just fall into place.”
Junior guard Caroline Durbin was named to the first team All-MWC yesterday after averaging 16.1 points per game this conference season.
She said only losing by five to UNLV the last time the teams played gives the Lobos hope of a victory, even though they are on the road.
“We could have played a lot better,” Durbin said. “We had some foul trouble, so I think we are really confident and I don’t think it will matter too much — it’s on their floor.”
Women’s Basketball vs. UNLV
Tonight, 7 p.m.
Thomas and Mack Center
