December 5, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
Lobo Women Show Bench Strength
By Ken Sickenger, Journal Staff WriterNew Mexico State University's women's basketball team was thoroughly bench-pressed Thursday night at the Pit.
New Mexico let its reserves do most of the heavy lifting in an impressive 80-48 romp over the Aggies in front of 8,139 fans.
The Lobos (7-1) got a remarkable 51 points from its bench, including a career night from popular junior post Val Kast. The 6-foot-6 Kast set career highs with 18 points and five blocked shots in 17 minutes of action. She was 8-of-10 from the floor.
“That was a lot of fun,” Kast said. “It was such a tremendous effort by our whole team. When you see everyone getting into it like that, you just want to contribute even more.”
Kast wasn't the only Lobo to have a big night. Angela Hartill led the starters with 15 points — 11 of them coming in the first half, when UNM built a 36-17 lead. Freshmen Lauren Taylor and Sarah Halasz also came off the bench to produce, scoring 11 points apiece, which was a career high for Taylor.
“The bench was exceptional,” Lobo coach Don Flanagan said. “Overall, those were probably our two best halves of the season.”
It certainly was a solid all-around effort for the Lobos, who shot a season-best 53 percent from the field while making things tough on the Aggies' shooters. Madison Spence, NMSU's leading scorer coming in, was limited to seven points. Danisha Corbett paced the visitors with 17 points but on 5-for-14 shooting.
As a group, the Aggies shot 32 percent.
“Defensively, we did what we wanted to do,” Flanagan said. “We held them below 50 points.
“I'm really happy with the results and the way we played.”
Aggies coach Darin Spence was understandably less pleased but gave the Lobos their due.
“They're just a good, solid team,” Spence said. “They're balanced. I don't think they're 32 points better than us, but they were tonight.”
Still, it was an unusual scoring balance for UNM, which got a combined 14 points from starters other than Hartill. Amy Beggin, who came in as the Lobos' leading scorer, had just four points, though she contributed in other ways (seven rebounds, five assists, four steals and solid defense on Madison Spence).
Lobo reserves, however, made their presence felt.
Taylor and Halasz came up particularly big during a 20-4 first-half run that boosted UNM's lead from 12-10 to 32-14. Taylor converted a coast-to-coast layup, hit a long 3-pointer and fired a nifty cross-court pass to Halasz, who converted a fast-break layup.
“Everyone was really poised today,” Hartill said. “We were really determined to get this win and it showed.”
Jessica Kielpinski had six points and seven rebounds for UNM, which finished with a 51-13 advantage in bench points. But no one came up bigger on this night than Kast.
After scoring New Mexico's final three baskets of the first half, Kast returned to the floor midway through the second half. She provided instant offense, scoring on short bank shots and 10-foot jumpers.
When a brief NMSU run cut a 22-point Lobo lead to 61-45, Kast scored six more points to spark an 11-0 run. Her turnaround jumper with 5:30 remaining brought the crowd to its feet.
“What I liked was, Val didn't just play good offense,” Flanagan said. “She played good defense, blocked shots. She's starting to understand what I need from her. If she continues to come around, it makes us a much different team.”
It was a difficult night for NMSU (3-4), which finished with more turnovers (19) than field goals (18).
New Mexico is scheduled to play the Aggies again on Dec. 20, this time in Las Cruces.
“It feels pretty good tonight,” Hartill said, “but you know in the back of your mind that they still have another shot at us. We can't afford to get too excited yet.”