Lobos women win topsy-turvy tourney opener
The unpredictability of March Madness is in full swing at the women’s Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev.
Tuesday’s second round began with a stunning upset as regular season champion and No. 1 overall seed Colorado State was knocked out by No. 8 San Jose State.
The upset bug nearly bit again a few hours later when No. 2 New Mexico took to the floor against No. 7 San Diego State, a team it had swept with a pair of comfortable wins in the regular season.
The Lobos (19-11) survived two missed shots in the final three seconds by San Diego State to eke out a dramatic 57-56 victory at the Thomas & Mack Center.
They advance to Wednesday’s semifinals to face Fresno State, which defeated Wyoming 74-66 in Tuesday’s late game.
Tipoff for the Lobos and Bulldogs is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Mountain time.
“What a great game for the fans,” said Yvonne Sanchez,
UNM head coach. “This is what tournament time is all about. Our fans were terrific. I give them a lot of credit for creating an atmosphere like The Pit.”
The Aztecs’ Erimma Amarikwa gathered a rebound off a missed 3-point try by teammate Ariell Bostick as time wound down, but Amarikwa’s contested shot from point-blank range under the basket bounced off the rim and was cleared by New Mexico’s Khadijah Shumpert as the buzzer sounded.
“I mean, it’s called March Madness for a reason,” said UNM guard Antiesha Brown. “You can’t look back on what you’ve done in January and February. You know, it’s a completely different season. Every team starts out 0-0.”
It capped a wild night for New Mexico, which led by as many as nine points in the first half before enduring a see-saw battle in the second half.
Brown led the Lobos with 17 points while Cherise Benyon had team highs in rebounds (8) and assists (3). The biggest contribution, however, came from junior guard Brea Mitchell, whose 11 points off the bench included three clutch 3-pointers.
She averaged just 3.1 points in 9.3 minutes of playing time during the regular season, but virtually doubled her scoring output in the second half by hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer at the 11:32 mark to put UNM up 44-43, then followed it with another three minutes later to give the Lobos a 51-45 edge.
The Aztecs used an 11-4 run to take a 56-55 lead with exactly 2 minutes remaining when Ahjalee Harvey converted a jump shot. It stayed that way until New Mexico’s Bryce Owens hit a pair of free throws with 42 seconds left to close out the scoring.
San Diego State had two possessions in the final 35 seconds, failing to capitalize on three shots and two offensive rebounds. The Lobos outscored the Aztecs 12-1 on second-chance points.
St. Michael’s graduate Alexa Chavez had seven points and eight rebounds for Lobos.
“Coach told us before the game that it was going to be a grind,” Mitchell said. “There are no blowouts when it’s tournament time. We knew it was going to be a grind.”
Sanchez said her club didn’t overlook the Aztecs. In fact, she said, it was just the opposite. Since being picked to finish ninth in the preseason MWC poll, the Lobos have played with a chip on their shoulder every night during conference play.
“When you’ve seen as much basketball as we’ve seen, you don’t ever overlook anybody,” she said. “You just have to stay focused, play. You’re going to have games like this. You just have to be ready for them.”
Harvey had 16 points to lead SDSU (12-19). Amarikwa had 10 rebounds.
The Lobos led 35-32 at halftime but there were five ties and 13 lead changes between the opening tip and the two Owens free throws in the final minute.
In Tuesday’s other games, No. 5 Boise State (20-10) eliminated tournament host UNLV (13-17) with a 64-46 victory. Three Broncos finished in double figure, led by Yaiza Rodriguez’s 15 points.
The shocker of the day came in the first game when No. 8 San Jose State (15-16) followed its 99-point outburst in Monday’s opening round with a 64-55 upset of No. 1 Colorado State (23-7). The Rams shot just 29 percent for the game and gave up 50 rebounds to the Spartans.