Colorado State punched its ticket to the conference championship game after Wednesday’s 60-42 win over New Mexico, potentially the Lobos' final game of the season. The victory solidified the Rams' national ranking as they remain undefeated against Mountain West opponents.
The Lobos (17-14) only saw CSU once before Wednesday night’s contest, and the game came down to a final shot which fell to the floor as time expired.
The Rams didn’t allow the semi-final round of the Mountain West tournament to be as close of a contest.
"At the Pit, we played a little better defense, and we hit shots,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said in her post-game interview. “That was the biggest thing. We just didn’t hit shots, (even though) we had guards with open looks. We had some that were just playing up-tempo, you know, and not really at their speed.”
The Lobos didn’t hit shots, and the Rams did.
New Mexico was just over 24 percent from the field, while Colorado State shot a remarkable 52 percent. The turnover to assist ratio was pretty even between the two teams, so it came down to getting the ball in the basket.
The Lobos took 19 boards to the Rams’ 27, but only four of UNM’s rebounds were defensive. The Rams weren’t dominating the offensive boards like New Mexico; the squad simply wasn’t missing.
UNM could only put 12 second chance points on the board, despite garnering 15 offensive rebounds. The Rams only had four second chance points on five rebounds.
For the second straight night, it was 5-foot-2-inch senior guard Bryce Owens who led the Lobos on the glass. She came down with the team-high seven boards and eight points in what could potentially have been her final game for New Mexico.
“Personally, I’ve had a great career here. I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Owens said following the contest. “I’m glad that four years ago I signed here and came here. A lot of life experiences, a lot of basketball experiences.”
Fellow senior Khadijah Shumpert also may have played her final game in a Lobo uniform, as she led the squad in scoring for the second consecutive night.
Shumpert was the only player to reach double-digits, and nine of her 13 came from the charity stripe. CSU’s defense held the senior to just a 2-10 shooting night, and only allowed the forward four boards.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
New Mexico’s senior forward said in the postgame press conference that the Rams’ defense was the key difference between her 26-point performance against San Jose State and her rough night from the field against CSU.
“That was the huge difference and also the fact that they were double teaming me with girls that were just as big as I am, if not bigger,” Shumpert said.
While Colorado State (30-1) moves on to play the No. 2 seed in Fresno State on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. MT, the Lobos will await their fate to find out if they will participate in the NCAA tournament without an automatic bid.
“I hope for their sake we can play a little bit more,” Sanchez said. “You always want to get your younger kids involved when there is postseason. And I don’t know if those seniors are necessarily ready to be done.”
Whether or not the Lobos will be participating beyond their rocky regular season is still up in the air. Sanchez labeled the 2015-2016 campaign as a roller coaster.
However, despite a shaky regular season, Sanchez said she will not sleep on the season as she tries to gear her squad up to get better.
“We’ve got a really good class coming in. I think we’ve got some really good young kids coming back,” Sanchez said. “And who knows, there could be one more along the way, who knows. But we’ve just got to go back to work.”
The head coach will enter the final season of her two-year contract extension in the fall.
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.
