The No. 7 women’s basketball team continued its MWC tournament run on Friday after it beat No.6 Boise State at the Thomas & Mack Center, 51-50.
The Lobos play No. 1 San Diego State in the final tomorrow , but almost didn’t make it to the championship game after they lost a 12 point lead in the second half.
With two seconds left senior forward Porche Torrance blocked Boise State’s Julia Marshall game winning layup attempt.
“Our kids were warriors tonight,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “They gave it everything they had. They knew they were a little bit away from the championship game.”
Fan support spurred the Lobos to an 8-2 run to start the game and the Lobos took as much as a 12 point lead in the first half and had a 29-17 lead at halftime.
Torrance had 10 points in the first 10 minutes and UNM held Boise State to just 6-30 shooting in the first half.
Torrance said she didn’t want the semifinal game to be her last in a Lobo jersey.
“Either I win, I keep playing; or I lose, and my season is over with,” she said. “I just told myself to go out there and play my hardest, do whatever it takes for us to be successful.”
Boise State started the second half by putting UNM in a full court press, and the Lobos has a hard time breaking it. They turned the ball over on their first three possessions of the second half.
UNM had 24 turnovers in the game and Boise State closed the gap to one point 39-38 with 10 minutes remaining.
Sanchez said the full court press was tough to beat.
“I credit Boise State. They came in there full court press, they wanted to make it a full court game,” she said. “They did a nice job with it and we just held on at the end.”
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It took the Broncos just 8:03 of the second half to score 17 points, their total for the entire first half.
Sanchez said she told the team to come out fast in the second half. Boise State however was faster.
“The only problem is Boise State came out a little bit harder than we did,” she said. “They hit some shots. We had to hold on.”
With 6:41 left, Boise State took its first lead and went up by three points as UNM continued to turn the ball over.
The Lobos regained the lead off a three from senior guard Nikki Nelson with 3:47 left in the game and UNM kept the lead for the rest of the game.
A missed shot from senior guard Lauren Taylor gave Boise State possession down one with 27 seconds left and a chance to win but Torrance came up with a key block as the Lobos won.
UNM shot 20-48 compared to Boise States 18-62.
Torrance and junior guard Caroline Durbin led UNM with 15 points each. Torrance also had 12 rebounds.
“She’s playing at a level that I think she doesn’t even know she has,” Sanchez said. “Porche just has that determination. She has that confidence right now that, you’re right, she’s ready to take the team on her back. Some people are enjoying the ride.”
