Lobos, Broncos face off for third time, aim to break tie

LAS VEGAS — Anyone for a best two out of three?

That essentially is the format for Sunday's Mountain West Women's Basketball Championship matchup between fourth-seeded New Mexico and No. 5 Boise State.

The Lobos and Broncos, who split two regular-season meetings, will square off for a third time in a tournament quarterfinal at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. Boise State advanced with a 68-51 win over No. 12 San Jose State on Saturday, while UNM had a first-round bye.

Who has the upper hand for round three? Who knows?

The Lobos (22-9) shot well, out-rebounded the Broncos and piled up 50 points in the paint in a 70-63 win at the Pit in December. UNM then shot terribly (25%), lost the battle on the boards and was blown out 63-35 at Boise's ExtraMile Arena in early February. It was New Mexico's lowest point total in a game in more than a decade.

"Two very different games, that's for sure" UNM coach Mike Bradbury said. "We played pretty well against Boise at our place, but we really struggled on offense up there. Honestly, I actually thought we defended well enough against them both times, holding them to 63 and 64 points. But you still have to score, and we just could not hit anything in that second game."

Fortunately for the Lobos, their offense seems to have shaken off a midseason funk that included their ugly loss in Boise. UNM comes into the Mountain West tournament riding a season-best five-game winning streak and shot a sizzling 60.7% from the field in Tuesday's 86-64 win over Fresno State.

Are the Lobos playing their best basketball at the right time? Bradbury was hesitant to go quite that far.

"I don't know," he said. "We have been playing pretty good basketball for a pretty long stretch. We've been pretty consistent defensively for most of the season and our offense has looked good for the last four or five games. Hopefully, we can still be a little bit better this week."

UNM figures to need a good offensive performance against the Broncos (24-8), who boast one of the Mountain West's best shooting teams and led the league in scoring (70.9 point per game) this season. Natalie Pasco and Dani Bayes were named to the league's all-conference team Sunday, while teammate Tatum Thompson was the MWC Preseason Player of the Year.

"They're really good offensively," Bradbury said. "They shoot 3's well, they're a good rebounding team, and they like to get out in transition. We have to be good in transition defense. If you let them start scoring in transition, it's game over."

New Mexico's offense appears to have found another gear of late, averaging 72.2 points during the Lobos' five-game winning streak. Guards Destinee Hooks, Joana Magalhães and Cacia Antonio have led the charge, but UNM has also been getting more contributions from other sources. Alyssa Hargrove, Jessie Joaquim, Nayli Padilla and Emma Najjuma have posted double-digit scoring games during the Lobos' winning streak.

UNM got in a final practice Saturday in Las Vegas before Bradbury and his staff went to the Thomas & Mack Center to watch Boise State's win over San Jose State. For their part, the Lobos did not seem overly concerned about which opponent they would face in the quarterfinals.

"It shouldn't matter who we play as long as we come out and play our best basketball," Hooks said. "If we do that, I think we'll be more than happy with the outcome."

New Mexico will be trying to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2022, having since lost to San Diego State in the quarterfinals for three consecutive years.

MWC HONORS: Hooks was the lone Lobo named to the 10-player All-Mountain West Team announced on Saturday. UNM's Laila Abdurraqib was named to the six-member All-Freshman Team.

Hooks, who received honorable mention last season, leads the Lobos in scoring for the season and averaged 11.7 points per game in Mountain West play. Only conference stats are considered for All-MWC voting, which is done by the league's head coaches.

Abdurraqib averaged 8.2 points per game off the bench and hit 34 3-pointers in MWC contests.

Regular-season champion San Diego State had the most honorees, including Player of the Year Nala Williams, Sixth Player of the Year Kaelyn Hamilton and Coach of the Year Stacie Terry-Hutson.