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Consistency hasn’t been the mantra for the UNM women’s basketball team during MWC play.
Since the start of conference action Jan. 9, the Lobos have alternated losses with victories and will continue that pattern if they manage to defeat Nevada today and Air Force on Saturday.
Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said the final two games of the season versus the Wolf Pack and the Falcons are important in trying to garner some much-needed momentum.
“That’s all about it this week, is gaining some momentum for the conference tournament,” she said at Monday’s weekly press conference. “We’re fortunate to stay home. Nevada isn’t a walk in the park — they beat Fresno (State) at Fresno. We just have to play our game.”
The Lobos are coming off a 72-50 loss at Wyoming, while the Wolf Pack has gone 1-7 since losing to New Mexico 69-66 on Feb 2.
Nevada’s last win came at Fresno State 60-54 on Feb. 20.
In the first contest, Nevada outrebounded UNM 45-35 and freshman post Whitney Johnson said keeping the Wolf Pack off the glass is a high priority.
“We need to pick it up in transition defense because they like to run,” she said. “They’re very physical and very scrappy. They really crash the boards and that’s something that we emphasized in practice today.”
UNM averages one more point per game than Nevada at 58.7, and the Lobos are 12-2 when scoring 60 points or more, but are 3-10 when they allow 60 plus points. Junior guard Danika Sharp leads the Wolf Pack in scoring, averaging 13.4 points per game, while senior guard Chanelle Brennan is second on the team with 13.3 points per contest. The Lobos are led by senior guard Caroline Durbin who scores 12.1 points per game.
The Wolf Pack is last in the MWC in field goal percentage, hitting .352 percent of its shots, but the Lobos normally allow opponents to hit .378 percent of their attempts.
These will be the final two home games for seniors Jourdan Erskine, Jayme Jackson, Chinyere Nnaji and Durbin. Sanchez said she can’t put into words what the seniors have meant to the team, particularly Erskine, Nnaji and Durbin.
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“I can’t thank them enough,” Sanchez said. “Jourdan, Chin and Caroline have been through the gambit — they’ve continued to play hard and they’ve represented the University of New Mexico very well. They’re going to be the foundation of something very good in the future and we’re not going to forget them.”
Sophomore Antiesha Brown said she wants to send the seniors off right with two home wins.
“It’s a really big deal,” she said. “Our seniors have really gone through a lot with this program and it’s a really big deal to us as a team to show them how much we appreciate them. We want to play hard for them, so when it’s our turn, the underclassmen will play hard for us.”
