The Lobos then went
2-3 in December
to close their non-conference schedule before heading into
Mountain West
Conference play at UNLV on Wednesday, Jan. 9.
The Lobos women
entered December with a record of 6-2 with a three-game road trip
to close the year looming. Here's a short recap of UNM's exploits
in the final month of 2012.
- UNM 52, Cal
State-Fullerton 43: The Lobos made just 1 of 7 three pointers
but shot 20 of 47 (42.6%) overall to take down the Lady Titans
in The Pit. No Lobos scored in double figures, but UNM got
scoring from nine of 11 players. Sara Halasz led the Lobos with
nine points while Bryce Owens added eight and Jourdan Erskine
added seven points and eight rebounds.
- Arizona 58, UNM 53: The
Lobos came up just short against the Wildcats of the Pac-12,
cutting a 32-26 halftime deficit to a single possession before U
of A pulled away at the end with a pair of treys at The Pit.
Halasz scored a team-high 12 points while Caroline Durbin and
Whitney Johnson added nine points each. Erskine again led the
Lobos in rebounding with seven for the night.
- UNM 68, New Mexico St.
44: In the return game of the Rio Grande Rivalry in Las Cruces,
dominating the Aggie women even more than they did in The Pit a
month earlier. The Lobos ran out to a 39-22 halftime lead and
never let up to beat NMSU. Durbin led the Lobos with 18 points
on 6 of 12 shooting, including 4 of 6 on threes. Halasz added
nine points and transfer Antiesha Brown added eight points off
the bench in her first action as a Lobo.
- UTEP 60, UNM 45: At El
Paso, the then 10-1 Lady Miners ran away from the Lobos in the
second half, extending their 26-21 lead with a late rush to
brush off the game but out-matched Lobos. Durbin again led UNM
with 16 points while Deeva Vaughn came off the bench to nearly
tally a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
- No. 20 Colorado 84, UNM
39: The undefeated Lady Buffaloes showed their pedigree early
on, never trailing and building a 39-21 at halftime before
salting away the game with a 21-4 run to open the second half.
The Lobos’ effort was doomed by 25 turnovers and 30% shooting.
Brown came off the bench to score 10 points to lead the Lobos
while Vaughn added nine points.
Going into conference
play, the
MWC is not highly regarded – ranked 14th among the 31
NCAA Division
I conferences. As was the case last year, only the MWC tournament
winner may
garner an NCAA invite as only two MWC teams – Wyoming and San
Diego St. – are
ranking in the RPI top 60.
Not coincidentally
those two teams
top the MWC as the teams enter conference play, the Cowgirls
standing at an
impressive 10-2 but with no wins in the top 135 RPI.
At 8-4, the Aztec
women have two
wins over top 100 RPI teams – versus 11-2 Auburn (RPI 87) and at
Cal Poly (RPI
97).
UNM stands behind UW
and SDSU in
terms of wins and only Fresno State (7-5) and Boise State (6-6)
have non-losing
records. The rest of the league is a combined 13-37 with UNLV,
Colorado St. and
Air Force all far from .500 (Air Force has just one win this
season, over
independent Cal State Bakersfield (2-14).
So the Lobos appear
to be in good
shape coming into their MWC opener at UNLV in a week. The team is
undoubtedly
looking forward to the new year to wipe away the losses that
closed 2012.