New Mexico has ridden a bumpy ride to get to the final game of the season.
Seniors Khadijah Shumpert, Bryce Owens and Alexa Chavez will say goodbye to WisePies Arena amidst the up and down 2016 campaign. While the regular season is winding to a close, the three still have a shot to end their tenures on a high note.
Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said in a Thursday interview that her squad has a chance to go deep into the postseason, a feat she would like to accomplish for the first group of players she recruited as a head coach.
Before Shumpert, Owens and Chavez signed up to play for Sanchez, the Lobos were in a tough transition period. Sanchez had just taken over as head coach for Don Flanagan back in 2011. The team had gone 11-20 that first year, and Sanchez was required to go out and sell her newly acquired program to the three departing players.
“They took a chance, all three of them,” Sanchez said. “As depleted as we were and the negativity surrounding the kids that left the program, I mean it was just hard those years.”
There is still time for a fairy tale ending for each of the seniors, but the magic will need to occur in the conference tournament, after a grueling season currently sits the Lobos in fifth place.
“We’ve had some tough losses, especially with the Fresno State loss,” Sanchez said. “But everybody is just all in.”
The head coach said no player has shied away from the main goal of winning the Mountain West tournament and garnering an automatic bid to the NCAAs. A win on Saturday would allow UNM to sit out Monday’s first round of conference play, and a chance to scout their potential opponent.
Sanchez has said toward the late Mountain West push that the Lobos aren’t scared to play in the first round, as it is just one more game to get ready for.
However, it would be ideal for the Lobos to rest some tired legs in the first round in order to gear up to win just three straight games instead of four in Las Vegas. Playing around .500 ball is not something the head coach said she had envisioned for the season, but said the year has been a growing experience for Sanchez and her players.
“When your team can just grow and get better, and that’s what I’ve think we’ve done now, I think it just makes sense now that everyone is just coming together,” Sanchez said.
The Mountain West Basketball Championships don’t officially begin until next week, but Sanchez said it is important to go into the tournament with a full head of steam, which will begin on Friday against Nevada (5-23, 4-13 MW).
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The last time the two teams linked up was the opening game of conference play on Dec. 30, when the calendar still read 2015. UNM walked out of Reno, Nevada with a 51-47 victory on the back of Cherise Beynon’s 14 point performance.
Heading into Friday night’s contest, New Mexico will be without guard Laneah Bryan after injuring her right knee against San Diego State on Tuesday. Sanchez said on Thursday that Bryan’s season has come to a close and the team would like to muster up wins for the key role player.
Even without Bryan, Sanchez remains confident in the team’s ability to compete with anyone in the conference, she said.
“There’s no team in our league that we can’t beat, and we know that,” Sanchez said. “It starts with Friday, and we can’t overlook Friday for the Mountain West tournament.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
