Las Vegas, Nev. - The UNM women's basketball team used a strong second-half performance to overcome a sloppy first half in its 55-49 opening-round win over San Diego State University in the Mountain West Conference Tournament Wednesday.
The Lobos used a quick 10-0 run to start the second half and came out with more energy in turning back the Aztecs' upset bid. After a turnover-prone and nervous UNM squad (18-11) showed up early, the team recovered in the second half by going to the basket and tightening its defense.
The Lobos made some clutch plays in the final minutes to preserve the victory and advance to the conference semifinals Friday against Colorado State University. CSU battled back from a nine-point, first-half deficit for a 70-59 win over the University of Wyoming.
"It wasn't pretty, but the key is to survive and advance," UNM head coach Don Flanagan said. "I was not happy with our offense, but our defense played really good. We came out nervous at the beginning of the game, and we made some adjustments and came out aggressive after that."
Even with the inspired play of the Lobos, SDSU (13-15) still had a chance to pull out a victory. However, UNM made a few key hustle plays and hit its free throws down the stretch. Senior Nikki Heckroth hit two critical free throws in the final minute of play, and when she missed, fellow senior Miranda Sanchez grabbed rebounds to thwart San Diego State's comeback.
The Lobos went nine-of-12 from the free-throw line in the final 3:22 to help keep SDSU at bay and finished 12-of-18 from the line. UNM's defense created 22 turnovers and frustrated the Aztec offensive attack into 36 percent shooting. It also helped catapult the Lobos into a second-half lead they would never relinquish.
Trailing 21-19 at the half, UNM held SDSU scoreless for more than six minutes to start the half. The Lobos began aggressively, getting their hands on every ball and making it tough for the SDSU shooters to get open looks. When it looked like the Aztec shooters did have an easy shot, a swarm of Lobos would collapse and contest the shots. The Lobos set a Mountain West Conference Tournament record with seven blocks, led by center Jordan Adams' four.
Heckroth helped lead the defense, shutting down the SDSU's leading scorer, Jamey Cox.
Cox, who had been averaging 17.5 points per game, was frustrated by the constant hounding of Heckroth, who led UNM with four steals and held Cox scoreless for the game.
"Defensively, I thought that was the best half we've ever had," Flanagan said. "I was satisfied with our ball pressure and everybody was in tune with the ball. The key of the game was Nikki shutting down Cox."
UNM took advantage of the momentum by going inside to Adams and with McKinnon relentlessly attacking the basket. UNM finished with 40 percent shooting from the field for the game, 45 percent in the second half. Sanchez scored a team-high 15 points, including three-of-six from the 3-point arc, while Adams and McKinnon each chipped in with 12 points. The Lobos never trailed after the second half run. SDSU quickly came back to within 29-28, but a 7-0 spurt by UNM gave the team the cushion it needed.
Sanchez began the run with a 3-pointer, getting open courtesy of a screen by Heckroth. McKinnon hit a jumper in the lane and then skied for an alley-oop pass from out of bounds for a basket.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"We decided at halftime that we needed to come out more aggressive," McKinnon said. "We began to take it to them and take care of the ball a lot better."
The Lobos built their lead to as much as seven, but could never get the Aztecs off their backs. Atim Otii led SDSU with 21 points and eight rebounds and Sophia Sledge contributed 17 points.
"I think we will play better our next game because we got the first game jitters out of the way," Flanagan said. "We have the mindset now to go out and play our game."
