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The New Mexico Lobo women’s basketball team is planning to turn over a new leaf this year, and is looking to accept all challenges it may face in the 2013 season.
Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said she would like to depend on the maturity of her team this year when facing difficult games and situations.
“We’ve got to accept those challenges a little bit better,” she said. “They are going to come. They are going to come one after another.”
Sanchez felt that one of the problems last year was losing big. She mentioned last year’s blowout losses against Colorado, Georgia and San Diego State as being something that her team couldn’t do this season.
Junior guard Antiesha Brown is not fazed by last year’s tough losses, stating that the Lobos have gotten better inside and out. She said that the Lobos are no longer a rebuilding team; they are ready and they are ready now.
“Our new logo this year is ‘Challenge accepted,’” Brown said. “All that really matters is what happens in (Las) Vegas (Nev.).”
While Sanchez hopes to obtain a Mountain West Conference championship and do well in the national tournament, her focus is fixed on earning what her team accomplishes.
“You’ve got great coaches in this league. You’ve got great teams in this league,” Sanchez said. “You’ve got to go and earn it.”
Sanchez expressed the depth of the MWC and said she doesn’t think that there will be anyone who will go undefeated. Although her goal of winning a championship is in her sights, the team is honored to be ranked fourth in the league, she said.
Redshirt senior guard Sara Halasz also expressed the importance of the team’s motto of accepting challenges. However, Halasz said that she doesn’t want to be thought of as number four in the conference.
“We’ve got a lot to prove,” Halasz said. “This year we are going to step up on the court and prove to everybody that we shouldn’t be picked fourth.”
Halasz said the Lobos will be a better team because of the depth in the bench play. Playing with high energy is one of the keys the Lobos will need to do offensively and defensively, she said.
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Sanchez said the lack of talent is not a worry for her and she is pleased with the depth of her squad. With the abundance of young players, Sanchez knows that she can’t rush them or expect too much from them. The Lobos have six freshmen on the roster, she said.
“I understand freshmen are still freshmen,” Sanchez said. “I think with what we have in the upperclassmen that when the freshmen do play, they will be OK.”
UNM opens the 2013 preseason at home against New Mexico Highlands on Saturday in The Pit at 1 p.m.
The Lobos have the edge against the Cowgirls, having won five of the seven games that the teams have played.
