Marching on

LAS VEGAS — Call them the flavor of the month.

Forward Porche Torrance had two key blocks on Wyoming’s Aubrey Vandiver in the final 1:59, and the seventh-seeded Lobo women’s basketball team leaned on stingy, physical defense to shut down third-seeded Wyoming 67-61 Wednesday, setting up an improbable semifinals matchup against second-seeded TCU.

Senior Jessica Kielpinski said the Mountain West Conference tournament venue becomes the Lobos’ home away from home.

“Well, I guess they call it Pit West,” she said. “I guess when we’re here, we just gel together. I don’t know — it’s the atmosphere or something, but something clicks when we’re here.”

Vandiver, the conference’s MVP who led the league in regular-season scoring with 18.5 points per game, finished with 26 points. Fifteen of her points came in the second half, but head coach Don Flanagan credited Torrance for coming up with stops when the Lobos needed them the most.

“Porche did an excellent job,” he said. “Now, we put three or four people on her, but Porche did the best out of anybody. I was just worried that Porche would foul out, but she did a real nice job of staying in the game.”
UNM’s defense flustered Vandiver all night. Wyoming was down as much as 13 points in the second half. With 5:19 remaining in the game, Vandiver had the ball swatted away from her by UNM’s Jasmine Patterson.

Frustrated, Vandiver yelled at guards Amanda Best and Patterson after the play and received a technical foul. Best took to the line and hit both free throws to take a 59-54 lead.

Best said she didn’t know what Vandiver said to get a technical foul.
“I just saw her yelling at Jasmine,” she said. “I was like, ‘Ref, check it out.’ I didn’t really know, but she was yelling though.”

Wyoming finally figured out UNM’s defense, and with 3:31, cut the Lobos’ lead to 59-56.

However, Patterson got fouled and hit two free throws with 1:58 to go up 61-57.

Wyoming head coach Joe Legerski said that UNM deserved all the credit in the world for slowing down his team.

“One of the things that I talk about is that New Mexico has developed a tradition to win at the tournament,” he said. “You get that with good players, and they’ve been able to do that. So for us, we’re still trying to accomplish that.”

Four Lobos finished in double figures. Kielpinski finished with 11, Patterson with 14 and Best with 15. Guard Lauren Taylor scored 13 points and found her shot in the second half.

“I thought Lauren played a good game, not only offensively, but defensively,” Flanagan said. “Then in transition she hit one, might have hit two, and then Best hit one. All of the sudden we’re playing relaxed, we’re feeling comfortable, and we’re thinking in a positive way.”

The Lobos’ two tournament wins have come against teams that swept them in the regular season. Wyoming swept the season series by beating UNM by double-digits both times (63-53 and 78-65).

With the win over the Cowgirls, the Lobos advanced to the semifinals for the ninth time in the last 11 years.

Flanagan said he didn’t pack enough clothes for an extended trip, but his team has come together at the right time.

“Coming to the tournament, I didn’t feel comfortable,” he said. “I only brought one sport jacket. But I got different ties, so I’m OK.”