Lobo women's notes: Transfer Craig suffers season-ending injury

The first two weeks of official fall practice have been a good-news, bad-news proposition for the UNM women’s basketball team.

Progress has been steady, coach Mike Bradbury says, as the Lobos work toward their first exhibition game, Oct. 20 against New Mexico Highlands. Determining a starting lineup and player rotation remains a priority for a team with 10 newcomers.

The bad news is one of those newcomers, transfer Clarissa Craig, will not be part of the equation. Craig underwent surgery for a torn labrum last week and will miss the upcoming season, Bradbury said.

Craig, a 6-foot-3 senior who spent the previous three seasons at Cincinnati, injured her shoulder during practice. She had initially hoped to play through the injury but later decided on surgery and a redshirt season.

“It’s a devastating injury and I feel really bad for Clarissa,” Bradbury said. “The only upside is it’s preseason and we’ve got plenty of time to adjust.”

Craig projected to line up at center for UNM this season, with San Jose State transfer Amhyia Moreland moving to the perimeter as a forward.

Instead, the 6-1 Moreland will likely move back to the 5 spot she primarily played at SJSU. Returning fifth-year senior Hulda Joaquim also figures to see action at center.

The loss of Craig could impact UNM more on the defensive end than it does on offense. This season’s roster has more size and length than the 2023-24 Lobos, but it remains a guard-oriented team. Moreland, Joaquim and 6-1 sophomore Paris Lauro are the only players listed as forwards.

“Our offense will be similar to last year’s,” Bradbury said. “We’re just working on getting personnel in the right spots to be successful and we’re making progress. Defensively, it’s a different group than last year. We’re trying to figure out what we’re best at and we’ve got work to do.”

TURNING HEADS: Without naming names, Bradbury estimated that two starting spots may be relatively secure at this point. One of them figures to be returning starter Viané Cumber, a junior who has taken on a leadership role this season.

Three newcomers have been making their presence felt in the early days of practice: guards Alyssa Hargrove, Destinee Hooks and Joana Magalhães. Hargrove is a 5-9 senior transfer from Austin Peay State, Hooks is a 5-9 sophomore transfer from Vincennes University, and Magalhães is a 5-5 freshman from Lisbon, Portugal.

“Destinee and Alyssa have been making steady progress,” Bradbury said, “and Joana is coming off a really good week.”

SCHEDULING PUZZLE: UNM’s nonconference schedule has been posted since late July, but the Mountain West portion had yet to be officially released Saturday with just two weeks remaining until the Lobos’ exhibition opener. The MWC released its men’s basketball schedule Thursday.

Oddly, the MWC women’s schedule has been released to member schools though it has not been officially posted on the league’s website. Seven of the 11 Mountain West schools already had posted their league games online last week. UNM, UNLV, Colorado State and Boise State had not.

Based on the other schools’ schedules, New Mexico will open and finish conference play against Air Force, visiting the Falcons on Dec. 29 and hosting them for Senior Day on March 4. The Lobos’ MWC home opener is scheduled for New Year’s Day against Nevada.

UNM will face the Wolf Pack and San Jose State just once in the unbalanced 18-game schedule. MWC women will move to a 20-game conference schedule in 2025-26 — the final season with the league’s current lineup.

During Bradbury’s tenure, UNM has faced Air Force the fewest times during conference play. The Lobos and Falcons have met just once in a season four times. This season will be the third time UNM has faced SJSU and Nevada once. New Mexico has played single games in a season just once against six teams (Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State, Wyoming) during Bradbury’s tenure. UNM and UNLV have met twice every season.