Monthly Archives: November 2009

Yale just got beaten by Toledo in the Hol­i­day Inn & Suites Express Mid­town Thanks­giv­ing Tour­na­ment. Holy Toledo! And now we’re wait­ing for UNM to take on North Car­olina A&T.…is that like Atchin­son Topeka? We’ll rep­re­sent for the “Santa Fe” since we plan to rail­road ‘em!

OK…quick search reveals that the NC school is in Greens­boro, nice place, and that A&T stands for agri­cul­tural and technical…They should know that Lobos don’t like Aggies…of any variety.

Here we go!! Nikia Gorham, 44, vs. Jes­sica Kielpin­ski. Kielpin­ski to Halasz. Amanda Best’s ball falls short and its in NC hands. Foul and UNM brings it in…Here comes Best. Around we go. Georonika misses. NC ball. 44 shoots, 2.

Best bring­ing it. Around we go. Halasz’s shot falls short. NC’s on the run again. 14 to 44 to bas­ket for NC, now up 0–4.

Amanda Best makes it hap­pen for the Lobos almost 3 min­utes in. Another score by NC and it’s now 2–6.

Work­ing around, Halasz shoots misses, Tay­lor gets it. Halasz shoots misses, NC gets it. 44 gets robbed on a rim shot. UNM moves it. 4, Crys­tal Mur­daugh fouls and UNM’s bring­ing it in. Tay­lor shoots, makes it and gets fouled. Tay­lor misses, NC ball. 4–6 Lobos. 45 shoots for the Aggies and its 4–8. Lobos mov­ing it. 44, Nikia Gorham, fouls and UNM’s strate­giz­ing as we get ready for sumo wrestlers brought to you by Baillio’s.

Halasz shoots, misses, NC ball, scores. 4–10. NC steals off Kielpin­ski moves it down court. Out of bounds on UNM and NC brings it in. Tay­lor fouls num­ber 10 Tierra Thomas. Thomas brings it in. Out of bounds, UNM ball.

Here comes Best. Jack­son, Kielpin­ski, Best…score! 6–10. 14:06 in the first half.

Lobos hold ‘em. Halasz dri­ves and scores. 8–10. Come on Lobos!!!

Lobos are striv­ing hard to bring a tough D, but 3,Tyronnica Alford, scores. 8–12. Kielpin­ski misses and NC’s mov­ing the ball. They get a rebound, Beg­gin comes in for Jackson.

Jump ball and NC gets it. A missed trav­el­ing call on 45, Lam­ona Smal­ley, but dou­ble drib­bling gets the call and here comes Beggin!

They are tentative…Beggin shoots for 3, misses, foul puts the ball back in NC hands.

Here comes a time out and your spirit pro­gram and sound­pack. Appar­ently we’re the LOBOS part of the U-N-M LOBOS cheer! LOBOS!!!

11:54 left in the first half and cheer­lead­ers are stand­ing on top of one another and the band plays on.

NC’s mov­ing the ball. NC gets the rebound, but the shot clock runs out. LOBO ball.

Porsche Tor­res comes in for Sara Halasz.

13, Jaquayla Berry, fouls and UNM gets the ball. Another foul and UNM is again bring­ing in the ball. Time out.

Amanda Best is 2 for 3; Halasz 1 for 5 and Tay­lor 1 for 1.

Tay­lor tries for 3, misses, NC’s got the ball. They miss, get the rebound, and they score 8–14.

Best gets fouled, at the line shoots…it’s in…second is in as well. Go BEST! 10–14.

NC’s mov­ing it around. Driving…13 shoots, misses, rebound by NC, foul by NC and UNM has the ball again.

Beg­gin shoots, misses, NC’s mov­ing. 14, Amber Calvin, misses. UNM ball. Beggin’s mov­ing it to Kielpin­ski, Tay­lor shoots 3! GO TAYLOR!!! 13–14. Come on LOBOS!

Band calls for sharks. NC’s mov­ing. 14 shoots for 3 13–17.

Best gets robbed on a rim shot. NC ball. Kielpin­ski steals. Beg­gin shoots, misses, NC ball. Beg­gin steals, Kielpin­ski shoots. 2! 15–17.

Ball’s out of bounds for the Lobos to bring back in after the break. We’ve got 7:34 left in the half.

Tay­lor leads scor­ing at this point — mak­ing 2 of 3. Best has 2 of 4 and Kielpin­ski 1 of 3.

Best tries hard to flip one in, is unsuc­cess­ful. NC ball down the court. Time out.

Band plays fight song. GO FIGHT WIN LOBOS!

NC ball. 45, Lam­ona Smal­ley, to 4, Crys­tal Mur­daugh, to the bas­ket. 15–19.

Lobos are mov­ing it around. Halasz fails on a 3 pointer. She scram­bles, comes up with her sec­ond foul. Here comes NC. Pow­er­ful team. Big­ger girls than the Lobos in girth, but not in height.

32, Jaleesa Sams, shoots from the free throw line. Misses the first. Sec­ond one goes in 15–20 with 6:20 left in the game.

Out of bounds on UNM off Torrance’s hands. UNM gets a rebound. Georonika Jack­son works it under the net. Scores! 17–20. They get a steal and she fol­lows it up with a 3 pointer. TIE GAME! GO LOBOS. The crowd goes wild. The sound is exquis­ite, but the Aggies fol­low it up with 2. 20–22.

Porsche Tor­res gives us two more and another tie. UNM is work­ing the defense and we’ve got a scram­ble on the hard­wood. 22–22 2ith 4:11 left in the half. Kast comes in for Taylor.

Beggin’s bring­ing it down court. Around it goes. To Kast to Jack­son, off the rim and out of bounds. Ball goes to NC.

We’ve got toi­let races. How do you explain this to vis­i­tors from out­side the US??

Jack­son is now 2 for 4, Kielpin­ski 1 for 3, Tay­lor 2 for 3; Halasz 1 for 6, Beg­gin 0 for 3, Tor­rance 1 for 1.

Out of bounds on UNM, it bounces off sev­eral fin­gers before sail­ing through NC’s net. 22–24.

Kast ties it with an under the bas­ket easy– in. She’s work­ing D. So are her team­mates. Out of bounds on NC.

Beg­gin throws it up, NC snags, UNM gets it back. Berry, 13 for NC fouls Jack­son. She’s at the line. In like Flynn. 25–24…first Lobo lead. Misses the sec­ond. Kast gets a foul, ball to NC. 2:24 left in the half. Steal by UNM has Beg­gin rac­ing down the court. She’s fouled under the bas­ket. Beggin’s at the line. It’s up, it’s in.…Second one rolls off the rim. 26–24. NC’s mov­ing. Gets called for trav­el­ing. Kast is out, Kielpinski’s back in. Here come the LOBOS!

On an awe­some move from Kielpin­ski to Beg­gin to Best we get a score, fol­lowed by a Beg­gin steal and another score. UNM 30–24.

Jack­son gets called on a foul. 23, Jaleesa Sams is at the line. It’s in, but the sec­ond rolls out. 30–24, 44 sec­onds left.

Jack­son gets fouled by 32. She shoots and it’s in. Sec­ond is nut­tin’ but net 32–25. A scram­ble under the bas­ket goes to NC…11.9 sec­onds left. Sloooooow sub­sti­tu­tion by NC.…

And some debate, I guess. We wait and wait and wait. The refs con­fer. The play­ers chat. 10 sec­onds on the shot clock. They score.

Best runs down and scores as time expires. 34–27! Go AMANDA!!!

Not an easy half for the Lobos, but they made some adjust­ments, espe­cially on defense and got more aggres­sive offen­sively, as well.

Half time stats. Jack­son 2 for 4; Kielpin­ski 1 for 3; Tay­lor 2 for 3; Halasz 1 for 6; Best 2 for 5; Beg­gin 0 for 3; Tor­rance 1 for 1 and Kast 0 for 0. Best played 16 min­utes in the first half, fol­lowed by Tay­lor with 15; and Kielpin­ski with 13. Jack­son and Halasz each played 10 and Beg­gin 9. Kielpin­ski and Tay­lor each had 1 offen­sive rebound. Best had 3 defen­sive rebounds and Tor­rance 2, while Jack­son had 1. Total point leader at the half is Best with 6. Jack­son and Tay­lor each scored 5. Best had 3; Tor­rance 2 and Jack­son, Kielpin­ski and Tay­lor 1.

Sec­ond half gets under way.

Beg­gin misses a 3 pointer and NC moves the ball, misses, Beg­gin gets the rebound, Halasz misses, NC gets the ball. Back in UNM hands on a foul, around we go. Every­one is on their feet clap­ping wait­ing for that first score. Out of bounds on NC, Beggin’s bring­ing it in. Tay­lor shoots. 36–27.

Halasz gets aggres­sive swats it out of bounds on 14. 32 brings it in. 32 moves it to 4 who misses com­pletely. Out of bounds on UNM. 14 brings it in to 32, shoots, but the shot clock runs out. Here­comes Halasz who loses the bal. 45 runs out of bounds and up the bleach­ers. GO GIRL.

Lobos drive down court. Beg­gin to Best to Kielpin­ski to Tay­lor to Beg­gin to Best to Tay­lor to …score! 39–27.

44, Gorham, scram­bles under the bas­ket, hangs tough with sev­eral defend­ers but comes away point­less. UNM ball on a foul. Here we come! Kielpin­ski to Halasz to the net. 41–27. 16:43 left. UNM steals. UNM foul puts it back in NC hands.

Gorham scores 41–29.

Lobos work the outer edge and Beg­gin breaks her quiet streak and scores 3. 44–29, fol­lowed by an NC score, 44–31 with 15:42 in the game.

And in the time out we have HEY! GO LOBOS!

Beg­gin moves, dri­ves, to Kielpin­ski to Best…Beggin fouls and we have a time out. We also have GO FIGHT WIN LOBOS!

I love these seats.

Stats! Tay­lor still rocks, scoring4 out of 5. Best brings it around and under. 46–31.

NC ball. 13 to 10 to 13 who dri­ves, off the rim and into Best’s hands. Jacson,Taylor Beg­gin, Best, Tyalor, shoots, misses, NC Ball.

13 dri­ves, scores, Beg­gin fouls her. She’s shoot­ing 1 off the rim and into Best’s hands. Beg­gin dri­ves, col­li­sion, Kielpin­ski and 3. Beg­gin shoots another suc­cess­ful 3. 49–33 then gets fouled down court.

Here come your LOBOS! A nice lit­tle under the bas­ket action and Kielpin­ski scores   — 51–33 with 13:07 left.

13 scores a pretty 3. Jack­son misses and the ball is mov­ing North Car­olina way.  3 misses and she and Georonika fight for it. Georonika wins the bat­tle. Ball moves down and Beg­gin hot hot hot shoots 3 more 54–36. Kast comes in for Kielpin­ski. Thank good­ness. Eas­ier to type.

3 gives some pay­back shoots 54–38.

Kast misses, NC’s 3 hands off to 4,Murdaugh, who shoots 2.

All that effort and no time left and no points. Come on Lobos. Nice steal by Tor­rance. Beg­gin scores again 56–40.

10 misses and Best gets it back, loses it and 3 scores again. 56–42 with 10:03 left.

Amanda Best shoots A BEAUTIFUL 3. 59–42. 3, Alford, shoots, misses, rebound falls short. Time out.

Stats: Amy Beggin’s num­bers are up — now 5 for 9. Tay­lor is 4 for 6.

32 gets ready to shoot her free throw.…It’s in. So’s the sec­ond shot. 59–44.

Nikki Tay­lor coems in for Best. Amy Beg­gin shoots another 3. 62–44.

Kast steals! Jack­son shoots, misses, ball’s in NC hands. Kast gets called on a foul. 3’s shoot­ing. Up and in. Halasz comes back in for Jack­son as 3 misses her sec­ond shot. 62–45 with 8:11 left.

Ball’s Lobo bound…and outta bounds as Kast fires it through Nikki Nel­son. WOW.

Time out again with your Lobo “soundpack.”

New stats: Beg­gin 6 for 10; Best 6 for 9, and Tay­lor 4 for 6.

NC scores 3 — 62–48.

Lobos are mov­ing. Tor­rance to Kielpin­ski to bas­ket. and a steal by Beg­gin and 2 more. ROCK ON LOBOS!!! 66–48.

Lobos on the move again. Beg­gin misses but Tor­rance gets the rebound and scores. 68–48.

14 shoots and misses, Lobos mov­ing with 5:49 left. Tor­rance misses NC ball. Taylor’s in for Beggin.

Tor­rance brings the ball in post-foul, and they’re dri­ving. Kielpin­ski scores 70–48.

Rebound to UNM and Taylor’s mov­ing. She scores! 72–48.

Lobo ball on a foul.

NC ball out of bounds. Fans call 32 “Air Ball.” Nick names are so hard to lose. Steal by Nel­son to Halasz to Kielpin­ski to Tay­lor to Nel­son to bas­ket. 75–48.

25, Nakia DeBlanc, com­pletely misses the bas­ket and the Lobos are dri­ving once more. Missed basket.

Cheer­lead­ers are doing hand­springs down the court. Hair rib­bons go flying.

Stats: Beg­gin is now 7 for 12; Best 6 for 9, Kielpin­ski 4 for 6.

NC free throw…one in for 25, score now 75–29 with 2:31 left. NC dri­ves, Kielpin­ski fouls 13.…it’s in for 1.…it’s in for 2. 75–51.

Kielpinski’s called on a foul and NC gets the ball again. UNM steals under the bas­ket. Ersk­ine, Stark and Durbin came in. Tor­rance scores 2. 77–51.1 minute left.…10 dri­ves. 24, Durbin, gets called on a foul. 10, Thomas, shoots. It swirls and goes out. Stark fouls 10. She shoots.…it’s in. Sec­ond shot is through. 77–53 with 45 sec­onds. The rook­ies are work­ing, but ten­ta­tive. 42 throws to NC. They get 2 more. 77–55. Nelson’s guard­ing the ball. It’s all over. 77–55.

GO LOBOS!!!!!

Game time tomor­row at 7:15 p.m.

Beg­gin fin­ishes the game 7 of 12; Best 6 of 9; Tor­rance 3 of 4; Kielpin­ski 4 of 6; Tay­lor 5 of 7.

Postgame, Coach Don Flana­gan gave his assess­ment. “I like the way we played, we picked our spots. We started slow, with­out Amy, but did a good job fig­ur­ing out weak­nesses,” he said. .He said that Beggin’s ankle injury kept her out of prac­tice and in ther­apy. A team rule applies to start­ing when a player is unable to make practice.

Flana­gan indi­cated that rebound­ing was a fac­tor early. But, he said, “I like what we did in the sec­ond half. we had good shot selec­tion, good shoot­ing per­cent­age. had no ner­vous­ness. no lack of poise.” He added that the Lobos did a good job of eval­u­at­ing what the NC Aggies were doing.  He assessed that Tor­rance played a solid 22 min­nutes, Kielpin­ski played 29 and that he rotated every­body. “Foul trou­ble early required mak­ing adjust­ments,” he said.

Flana­gan said that NC A&T played a lot of zone before shift­ing to man-to-man.  Flana­gan said that Beg­gin stayed on the bike to keep warm and still played 28 minutes.

“Nikki Nel­son did a good job com­ing in. I was happy to see her play calmly. Iwant her to play side by side with Amy and then get her out of there, expand our bench.” Flana­gan said the fresh­men need more min­utes. “We need to get  kids in there who feel com­fort­able,” he said.

Tomor­row the Lobos face  Toledo.  He said that the Toledo Rock­ets are very aggres­sive and bring a pres­sure defense. “We’ll see what hap­pens under pres­sure. We feel pretty com­fort­able. We played a lot of min­utes with the zone, some­thing we haven’t done. Need a week at it in prac­tice. It will be a dif­fer­ent look tomor­row.  If we do what we did today, make adjust­ments, be calm, get good looks and be accu­rate in our shoot­ing, we’ll do fine.”

Amy Beg­gin and Amanda Best met with the media post-game.

Beg­gin said that her ankle’s sore. and didn’t mind com­ing off the bench. Georonika deserved to go in there. I just want to help how­ever ia can, con­tribute how­ever I can whether I’m in 2 or 20 min­utes,’ she said.

Amanda Best noted that she had to play point guard, some­thing she’s done in prac­tice. “I’d rather play with Amy, and hope­fully the ankle thing won’;t linger on,” she said.

Best reit­er­ated their lack of expe­ri­ence in zone, in fact this was only the sec­ond team to present it against the Lobos. A reporter said that a lot of teams will be look­ing at film from the Okla­homa State game, she quickly responded, “They can look at this tape, too.”