You can’t exactly call them bookends.

The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team has received verbal commitments from a pair of 6-foot-3 high school seniors who will become Lobos in 2010-11. When it comes to basketball, however, height is one of their few similarities.

Morgan Toben, from Owasso, Okla., projects as a collegiate 3-guard. Erin Boettcher, from Concord, Calif., is strictly a post.

Toben knocked down 37 3-pointers last season on her way to being named team MVP. She can also score inside, as a 70.9-percent field goal percentage would indicate.

So despite setting a school record with 278 rebounds in 26 games, Toben doesn’t plan to set up in the paint too often.

“No, I want to be a guard,” Toben said in a phone interview on Monday. “I’m more comfortable playing outside and I have a pretty good shot.”

That, Owasso High School coach Mark Vancuren said, is an understatement.

“She’s lethal from the 3-point line,” Vancuren said. “If I’m scouting our team, the first thing I’d try to take away is Morgan’s perimeter shot. She shoots it so well and gets her shot off so quick.”

Toben, who averaged 12.9 points, 10.7 rebounds and two blocks per game last season, was recruited by numerous Division I schools, including Houston, Rice, Southwest Missouri State and “just about everybody in Conference USA,” Vancuren said.

Toben had planned to visit several campuses but canceled the rest of her travel plans after coming to Albuquerque in late August.

“I really, really enjoyed it,” Toben said. “The team was so accepting, and the coaching staff was nice and answered all my questions. They didn’t hold back and I appreciated that.”

Toben also plays volleyball (she had 19 kills in a recent match against rival Muskogee) but said basketball is her passion. She recalls being placed in a league with third-graders when she was in first grade.

“I was always so much bigger than everyone else,” Toben said. “Now I  have to work on quickness, so I can defend guards in college.”

Boettcher, on the other hand, is still learning some of the subtleties of basketball. She averaged 7.7 points and 7.5 rebounds for Carondelet High School last season, and her AAU coach says the best is yet to come.

“She’s still relatively new to the game,” said Mark Anger, director of East Bay Xplosion. “She really only started playing in eighth grade, but Erin just keeps getting better and better. The sky’s the limit with her.”

Boettcher visited UNM with her parents, Dan and Debbie Boettcher, on Sept. 12-13. She also was recruited by Utah State, Southern Utah, Lafayette and Portland State.

Boettcher turned some heads during the summer with some strong performances for East Bay Xplosion Black, the program’s top girls squad. Anger said Boettcher was moved onto the Black roster when another player was injured but immediately proved she belonged.

“People missed on her. (UNM coach Don) Flanagan got a heck of a player,” Anger said.

Boettcher’s high school program at Carondelet is particularly strong. Cougars teammate Erica Radanovich has committed to Santa Clara and Carondelet senior Morgan Fitterer also is being recruited. Stanford star post Jayne Appel is a Carondelet graduate.

“It’s a pretty serious program,” Anger said. “They probably have five kids who’ll end up going Division I, and that’s only going to help Erin. She’s already a very good rebounder and defender, and her offense is coming along by leaps and bounds.”

Toben and Boettcher join guard Tina Doughty from Texas’ Granbury High School as Lobo commitments for 2010-11. Doughty is currently ranked as the No. 71 guard in her senior class by HoopGurlz.com. NCAA rules prevent Flanagan from commenting on unsigned recruits.

UNM has five scholarships available for 2010-11, including one vacated when Kelsey Ansley transferred out of the program last season. Amy Beggin, Val Kast, Eileen Weissmann and Georonika Jackson will be seniors this season.