Lobos clinch crown
UNM defeats Colorado State in The Pit to clinch regular-season crown, top seed in MWC Tournament
UNM women finish regular season at 14-3 overall, ca crazy year with celebratory win in empty arena after defeating Colorado State, earning top seed in MWC Tournament
ALBUQUERQUE — About 45 minutes after the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team cut down the nets, made snow angels in the confetti at center court and took a victory lap around an empty arena with the Mountain West Conference championship trophy, one enthusiastic fan sat in his car outside The Pit just so he could congratulate the Lobos with a hollerin’ cowbell salute.
“First of many!” he yelled, ringing the bell as he hung out of his driver’s side window. “Next time we’ll be inside to watch you do it.”
The Lobos, a team that hadn’t played at home all season until this week, a team that endured a pair of extended COVID-19 shutdowns since late December, a team that moved its base of operations to Texas for two months and spent more time practicing in unfamiliar cities and rivals’ buildings, won the university’s first conference regular-season title in 15 years with a 71-62 victory in The Pit against Colorado State.
UNM finished the regular season 14-3 overall, capping things with a celebratory win in an empty arena.
Its two-game series against Colorado State had been scheduled a few weeks ago in Fort Collins, Colo., before a COVID-19 case in the Lobos’ camp shut things down. That series was shifted to The Pit this week, giving the state its first live hoops action in nearly a year.
It seemed only fitting that the final player to climb the ladder and snip her share of the nylon cord under the south basket was the team’s only