New Mexico opens league play tonight in its house of horrors
UNM has gone 1-7 when playing at Fresno
Anyone for a fresh start in Fresno?
The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team would like nothing better as it opens Mountain West Conference play tonight at Fresno State’s Save Mart Center.
It’s part of a difficult opening week for the Lobos (4-6), who have never enjoyed much success in the Bulldogs’ home arena. They are 1-7 in Fresno overall, 0-3 since Fresno State (7-4) joined the Mountain West. UNM has not won there since 1999.
Last season’s visit was particularly dreary as the Lobos scored only 19 points through the first three quarters and went on to suffer a 51-43 defeat. Firstyear coach Mike Bradbury was not around for that contest but has watched enough Bulldogs video to sympathize.
“Fresno is really, really good defensively,” Bradbury said. “They play mostly man-to-man, they’re very sound and they rebound well. They’re hard to score against.”
That makes things challenging for the Lobos, who have struggled with erratic shooting for most of this season. On the other hand, so has Fresno State.
The Lobos and Bulldogs rank 10th and 11th, respectively, in the 11-team Mountain West in 3-point shooting percentage. Fresno State leads only Air Force in scoring average at 61.7 points per contest.
“I would assume this will be a low-scoring game,” Bradbury said with a laugh. “Hopefully, we can find a few more points than they do.”
Tonight’s game features several intriguing matchups as UNM and Fresno State have similar strengths. Their respective leading scorers are posts Richelle van der Keijl (15.2 ppg) and Bego Faz Davalos (16.3 ppg). Point guards Beynon and Candice White rank second on their teams in scoring while handling the ball a lot.
The post matchup is particularly interesting. The 6-foot-3 Faz Davalos is more mobile and leads the nation in blocks (4.2 per game), while van der Keijl has a 2-inch height advantage and is stronger around the basket. Faz Davalos and van der Keijl rank 1-2, respectively, in rebounding in the Mountain West and both average double-doubles.
“It will be a pretty good matchup,” UNM junior Cherise Beynon said, “but the rest of us better not get caught watching it. If they kind of cancel each other out, it’s up to us to get the job done.”
Faz Davalos and White combine to score nearly half of Fresno State’s points, which Bradbury continually emphasized at practice this week.
“It’s nice knowing where the shots will come from,” he said, “but you still have to stop those two. Easier said than done.”
Tonight’s game will tip off a difficult three-day
span for the Lobos, who are scheduled to arrive home Friday around 4 p.m. and host San Diego State on Saturday. The Aztecs have a bye tonight and will open their MWC schedule against the Lobos, which is why UNM scheduled the New Year’s Eve contest against SDSU for 7 p.m.
“San Diego State has a whole lot more time to prepare than we do,” Bradbury said. “This first week is going to be tough.” PRECONFERENCE
BREAKDOWN: Heading into conference play, Mountain West women’s teams appear to have improved as a group since last season. Boise State (101) is receiving votes in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, while UNLV and Wyoming have posted impressive wins over Power Five opponents. The Cowgirls knocked off thenNo. 15 Colorado in Boulder last week.
The top teams have played well enough to foster hope that the MWC can be more than the onebid NCAA Tournament league it has become in recent seasons, but the gap between the top tier and other teams is not necessarily large.
This week’s Jeff Sagarin/CBN Women’s College Basketball Ratings, which compare teams by record, schedule strength and allow for predicted headto-head outcomes, has six MWC squads closely bunched. Boise State has the top rating at 75.87, followed by Colorado State at 75.80, which means the Broncos would be favored by less than one point on a neutral court. UNLV, Wyoming, Fresno State and New Mexico (69.67 rating) are all rated within 6.2 points of Boise State.
UNM, which was picked to finish sixth and has spent most of the preconference schedule adapting to a new coaching staff, remains a conference long shot. Still, Bradbury and his players believe their best basketball is yet to come.
“We can be a good defensive team,” Bradbury said. “We have to rebound better to be competitive. Defense and rebounding are what we’ll have to hang our hats on and just try to scratch out enough points to win.”
That, Beynon said, means more consistent shooting.
“I feel like we’ve had open looks in every game,” she said. “We’ve just got to hit more of them.
“We all feel like we can compete in the Mountain West because we’ve played a tough schedule and been in every game. We just have to take the next step and I think we’re ready.”