Lobo women enter pivotal stretch run

You could say the home stretch starts Saturday in Mountain West women's basketball.

With six games left in the regular-season race, the finish is shaping up to be a doozy.

Five teams are neck and neck chasing three first-round byes in next month's MW tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. Two of them, New Mexico and Colorado State, square off in a key battle Saturday at the Pit.

First-place San Diego State (13-1 MWC) looks like a lock to grab a first-round bye, thanks to the Aztecs' impressive knack for pulling out close wins. The other three tournament byes are very much in play, with UNLV (11-3), Boise State (10-4), UNM (9-5), Colorado State (9-5) and Grand Canyon (8-6) jockeying for position.

All five have key head-to-head games remaining and Saturday's UNM-CSU matchup is pivotal. The Lobos (17-8 overall) and Rams (18-7) come in tied for fourth place in the league standings. New Mexico currently has the tiebreaker based on a 66-59 win Dec. 7 in Fort Collins.

"There are a lot of us bunched up with six games to go," UNM coach Mike Bradbury said Friday, "so really every game is important from now on. It's all up in the air but this is obviously a swing game, considering we're tied with CSU. These two teams have a lot of similarities, so it comes down to who executes better."

UNM made the most of a monster second quarter in round one against the Rams, outscoring them 19-2 and leading the rest of the way. A win Saturday would give the Lobos a season sweep and a sizeable boost in any potential seeding tiebreakers as New Mexico has wins over UNLV and Boise State. CSU is 0-5 against SDSU, UNLV, Boise State and UNM.

A loss Saturday would knock the Lobos into fifth place with a road trip to Grand Canyon next on the schedule. UNM lost to the 'Lopes earlier in Albuquerque, while CSU swept its two games against Grand Canyon.

Bradbury and his players have not turned their attention to league tiebreakers just yet. The Lobos are instead focused on extending a streak of solid defensive play that's helped them win five of their last six — and getting a sputtering offense back to running smoothly.

UNM passed up numerous open shots and ended up having to work hard for a 66-61 win over last-place San Jose State on Wednesday. Bradbury acknowledged that hesitant shooters contributed to his team's "stagnant" offense against the Spartans' half-court zone.

"That was surprising," he said, "because we had discussed getting the ball to the middle for open shots and too many times we didn't take them. But we worked on it again (Thursday and Friday) and I feel like we've got that straightened out. We just have to keep working, run good offense and knock down some shots."

New Mexico's defense also missed assignments against San Jose State, allowing numerous open 3-point looks. The Spartans went 9-for-19 and kept things close into the final minute.

The Lobos know they must be better against a Colorado State team with scoring options aplenty. Guards Lexus Bargesser and Brooke Carlson are the catalysts, both ranking among the Mountain West scoring and assist leaders.

"We're expecting a hard game," sophomore guard Joana Magalhães said. "We have to make good decisions and fight for it. That's the whole thing for us now, play strong and keep fighting to get wins. Every game is really important."