Lobo women face tough test at Wyoming; coach gives keys to victory
Jan. 5—Life on the road is about to get challenging for the University of New Mexico women's basketball team.
Starting Thursday night in Laramie, Wyoming, the Lobos face by far the most difficult portion of their Mountain West schedule. Four of UNM's next five games are on the road — all against top league contenders.
In fact, based on non-conference records, Wyoming (7-4), Colorado State(7-4), UNLV (10-2) and San Diego State (10-3) posted the MWC's top four winning percentages. UNM (8-5) was fifth.
"Brutal," Lobos coach Mike Bradbury said of his team's upcoming road schedule. "The only good news is, if we can survive this stretch, things are a lot more favorable in the second half (of conference play). We have to survive it first."
First stop for the Lobos (9-5, 1-0) is Laramie — always a difficult environment for visiting teams. Wyoming (8-5, 1-1) ranks second in the league in home attendance (2,832 per game trailing only UNM's 4,967), and the Cowgirls are 6-1 at home this season.
What's more, Wyoming's physical style and patterned offense tend to make for a difficult night's work.
"They're a good team, very organized," said UNM senior point guard LaTora Duff. "They'll run the clock down and make you play defense for a long time. You have to stay patient against them, stick to the game plan."
Bradbury shook his head when asked about his team's strategy.
"We have to be really disciplined," he said. "Offensively, we have to move the ball and show patience but be aggressive at the same time. You can't come down, throw one pass and shoot against Wyoming very often or you'll end up playing defense all night. But when you do get an opening against them, you have to be ready to attack it."
Implementing the game plan falls squarely on Duff, who is coming off one of her best performances of the season. Duff had 15 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals in UNM's conference opener against Air Force on Sunday — a stat line Bradbury hopes to see repeated often during MWC play.
"Tora hasn't been at her best offensively this season," he said, "but she was really good (against Air Force). Hopefully that was the start of her playing more the way she's used to — physical and aggressive."
Duff agreed that her play was "not my best" during UNM's non-conference schedule and said she's been putting in extra work to return to top form.
"I feel like it's everything," she said. "There's room for improvement in every part of my game and I'm working to step it up for conference season. This is the time of year we play for."
UNM can expect a battle against Wyoming, which played two down-to-the-wire games last week. The Cowgirls led for most of the way before dropping a 73-67 decision at UNLV, then returned home to edge Fresno State 77-72 in double overtime.
Bradbury employed just seven players in the Lobos' 70-58 win over Air Force on Sunday, but he may go deeper this week with a noon game to follow on Saturday at Colorado State. Senior guard Nia Johnson, who missed Sunday's game because of illness, returned to practice this week.
Sophomore Paula Reus, who briefly left Sunday's game after suffering a bloody nose, showed no lingering effects this week. Reus sustained the injury diving for a loose ball near UNM's bench, where her nose collided with assistant coach Keith Freeman's knee.
"I had nowhere to go," Freeman deadpanned. "I'm in physical therapy now."
Thursday
WOMEN: UNM at Wyoming, 6:30 p.m., 610 AM/95.9 FM, themw.com
