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C&J 475: Multimedia Journalism, Spring 2008

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UNM Men, Women Basketball Teams Prepare for Tourney

This story was written prior to the Mountain West Conference Basketball Tournament, held the week of March 11 in Las Vegas. The Lobo women won the tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The men lost to Utah in the first round, did not receive an NCAA Tournament bid and instead played in the NIT Tournament.

by STEVEN FERNANDEZ

As the Mountain West Conference Tournament kicked off this week, the Lobo basketball teams are arguably playing their best ball this season.

The University of New Mexico men are enjoying a turnaround season, tying a school record with 24 regular-season wins a year after finishing last in the conference.

First-year head coach Steve Alford has led the Lobos to a No. 3 seed in the tournament, where the men look to boost their NCAA Tournament hopes.

UNM forward Daniel Faris said the Lobos are hoping to impress the NCAA selection committee as much as possible this week, if not win the tournament and gain the automatic bid.

"I'd rather go to the tournament and make some noise and be safe, " he said. "You don't want to leave anything to chance with the NCAA at-large bid. We just win the Mountain West Tournament so we just get in for sure."

The Lobos went 24-7 overall and 11-5 in conference this season, tying a school record with eight road wins.

If the NCAA selection committee focuses on how a team finishes a season, the Lobos have that going for them, too.

UNM finished the regular season by winning eight of its last nine games, including a 59-45 home win against UNLV, the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

The only loss came against No. 1 seed BYU, which was 25-6 overall and 14-2 in the MWC.

After the win against UNLV, Alford said he was pleased with how the Lobos improved at the end of the season.
" It's been a lot of fun," he said. "We've stayed away from losing streaks. We've won some big games, and we've done a lot of good things."

For now, though, the focus is on the MWC Tournament and first-round opponent, No. 4 seed Utah.

The teams meet Thursday and the winner moves on to the semifinals to play the winner of the UNLV-TCU game.

The Lobos swept the Utes during the regular season in two close contests.

UNM needed an overtime to hold off Utah 77-67 on Jan. 22 at The Pit. Lobo forward Daniel Faris led UNM with 15 points while J.R. Giddens and Chad Toppert added 14 apiece.

In the rematch on Feb. 23, the Lobos knocked off the Utes 72-71, snapping an 18-game losing streak in Salt Lake City. Giddens scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Jamaal Smith added 17 rebounds.

Giddens said the Lobos aren't letting the regular season wins over Utah go to their heads.

"They're going to come out and give us all they've got," he said. "We've already beaten them twice. It's hard to beat a team three times in a season, so that's what we're all focused on."

Faris said the Utes aren't going to be an easy opponent to advance past the first round.

"It's going to be hard whether we were playing them the first or the third time," he said. "Utah's a really good team …and it's going to be a tough game. They're a really good sixth seed."

If UNM advances past Utah in the first round of the MWC Tournament, it will take on the winner of UNLV and No. 7 seed TCU on Friday. If the Lobos get past the semifinals, they would play in the MWC Championship on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the UNM women's basketball team proved it can be a dangerous team even when star player Dionne Marsh isn't at her best.

The Lobos defeated BYU 59-41 on Wednesday in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament thanks to a balanced offense and aggressive team defense.

UNM head coach Don Flanagan said Marsh is a player who should command defensive attention, but the Lobos have other players who can make opponents pay.

"We've seen the double team throughout the year, obviously, because Dionne's the key," he said. "That frees up our other post player, and Angela (Harthill) has become quite a good player. Now, they really can't do that as much."

The Cougars made it clear early on that they were going to force someone other than Marsh to beat them.

Defenders swarmed around the UNM senior, limiting her touches and shot attempts. Marsh got into foul trouble and was limited to 12 minutes in the first half, scoring three points.

However, the Lobos did not panic and responded with a flurry of 3-pointers and key defensive stops.

UNM was 5-of-11 in the first half from 3-point range and finished 7-of-15 from deep overall.

The Lobos forced 25 turnovers, which they converted into 35 points.

Harthill and Amy Beggin led UNM with 13 points each. Harthill added five rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal. Beggin chipped in with three assists and three rebounds.

Brandi Kimble scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for the Lobos.

BYU head coach Jeff Judkins said his team executed the defensive game plan well, but UNM had too much depth. "We really wanted to get Marsh out of the game," he said. "You got to give credit to Kimble and Beggin and Harthill. Those three came and played very well tonight."

The Lobos built an 18-8 lead with 10:52 left in the first half and didn't give up the double-digit lead the rest of the way. Harthill, Beggin and Kimble each hit 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes to help build that lead.

Anytime BYU seemed poised to go on a run, UNM cut it down with a big defensive play.

Kimble said the Lobos wanted to come out energetic on defense.

"I think we were just pumped up this afternoon to play good defense and we did a good job," she said.

Beggin said UNM was able to draw some more enthusiasm out of the Lobo fans who made the trip to Las Vegas for the tournament.

"It's just really special to come running out of that tunnel and see all the Lobo support here," she said. "Just kind of reminds us we do have the best fans in the nation."

With the win, UNM improved to 18-12 and will move on to face the winner of No. 1 Utah and No. 9 Colorado State in the second round on Friday.

The Lobos lost both games to Utah this season, but by narrow margins. They fell 60-57 on Jan. 23 at Utah.

UNM dropped the rematch at The Pit 57-53 on Feb. 23.
The Lobos beat Colorado State on the road 74-47 on Feb. 6 and won 76-45 at home on March 8.

Written March 12, 2008

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Marsh becomes UNM career scoring leader

Dionne Marsh established herself as the most prolific scorer in UNM history after her 26-point performance at The Pit on March 8.

The senior post needed 11 points to pass Abby Garchek as the school's career scoring leader and did so in the Lobos' 76-45 win over Colorado State.

With 5:52 remaining in the first half and Marsh one point off the record, she put a move on a Ram defender and scored on a layup to break the record, which prompted Pit fans to erupt with a standing ovation.

Marsh said she was glad to get the record at home and out of the way before the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

"It feels pretty good. The shot that it happened on was kind of exciting," she said. "We still got so much more basketball left to play, hopefully, so that's the main thing I'm concentrating on right now."

After Saturday's game, Marsh has 1,854 points in her UNM career.

It has been a brilliant career for Marsh, who has had a positive impact on the Lobos since her freshman season, when she was named Mountain West Conference Newcomer of the Year.

In the MWC Tournament in 2005, she became the first freshman to win MVP of the conference tournament when she averaged 21.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.

Marsh won her second MWC Tournament MVP last season when she led the Lobos to a conference championship and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

UNM head coach Don Flanagan said Marsh had the ability to put up great scoring numbers regardless of the opponent and how much defensive attention she faces.

"Her ability to score is as good as anybody that we've had," he said. "She might be the best scorer that we've ever had — just flat out scorer."

Flanagan said Marsh is one of the most clutch players he has coached, as her two MWC Tournament MVP confirm.

With the MWC Tournament beginning this week, the senior will once again look to lead UNM to a run at the conference championship.

"She's always played well in the tournament," Flanagan said. "I never have to worry about her playing well in big games. She's done that consistently for four years. That's another thing -- there's a lot of players that can score. But can they score when you need them to score? She's one of those players that are capable of doing that."