The University of New Mexico Women's Basketball Team (23-5, 13-4 MW) wraps up the season on Thursday at Dreamstyle Arena - The Pit against the Wyoming Cowgirls (20-6, 13-4 MW) at 7 p.m.. The game will feature Senior Night festivities honoring Jaisa Nunn, Nike McClure, Emily Lines and Erica Moore prior to the game. The game will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network hosted by Stadium and heard on the radio at 610 AM.
The two teams are tied for second place in the conference heading into the game, with the winner securing that second slot and the loser dropping to third heading into the Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas. Both teams are guaranteed a first round bye, bypassing Sunday's contests. The team that secures the two seed will play the winner of the game between the seven and 10 seeded teams, while the three seed will take on the winner of the game between seeds six and 11.
The two teams met once already this season, with the Lobos walking away with a narrow, 78-75 win to break a six game losing streak to Wyoming and hand the Cowgirls their first home loss of the season in a back-and-forth contest that saw 16 lead changes before UNM came out on top.
Wyoming is a veteran squad led by senior sharpshooter Marta Gomez, who averages 16.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and ranks in the top 20 players in the nation in three-point percentage, shooting 48.9 percent from beyond the arc. Bailee Cotton, another senior, is leading the team in rebounds, averaging 11 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. UW averages 69 points per game, scoring 85 points in an 85-56 victory over San Jose State on Wednesday.
Promotional efforts to get fans to the game as head coach Mike Bradbury looks to crack 100,000 attendees for the season are in full effect, with UNM offering $2 bench seats, $2 popcorn and soda, $4 dollar beers and free admission to Meow Wolf with every ticket purchased. UNM needs 8,263 fans to attend the game in order to reach 100,000 for the year.
Cameron Goeldner is a senior reporter and photographer for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s soccer, women’s basketball, softball and the Albuquerque Isotopes, but also contributes content for all other sports. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @goeldfinger.
