ALBUQUERQUE -- Early turnovers and poor shooting got the Cougar women in a hole at "The Pit," falling 44-63 to the Lobos in the final regular season MWC game of the year for both teams.
Both teams went into Saturday's game tied for second, but the loss pushed the BYU team into a three-way tie for third place with Colorado State and UNLV. And in the end, the Cougars were pushed back to fifth place.
In next week's MWC tournament, the Cougars will take on the Rebels of UNLV in the second quarterfinal game slated to tip off at 2:30 p.m., PST, from the Thomas & Mack Center.
"It was the same story for us today, we got down early, got in foul trouble and had some turnovers that really hurt," said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins of the Cougar loss to New Mexico. " We played well for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but a couple of big turnovers put us back again."
The Cougars were able to cut the huge deficit to eight points in the second half but could get no closer. BYU was down by 19, 31-12 at the break.
All-American Erin Thorn led the Cougar effort with 21 points. Ambrosia Anderson came off the bench for a team high seven rebounds.
Senior Jordan Adams led the New Mexico effort with 25 points, followed by Cristal Garcia who tallied 10 points.
The Cougars (17-10, 8-6), who are the defending conference tournament champions, head to Las Vegas on Tuesday. If the team beats UNLV on their home court in Wednesday's quarterfinal match up, BYU would advance to Friday's semifinal game and play the winner of the Utah vs Air Force game.
Official Basketball Box ScoreBYU vs New Mexico
03/08/03 2:05 PM MST at The Pit/Bob King Court
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VISITORS: BYU 17-10, 8-6 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
51 CHEESMAN, Danielle.. f 3-11 0-1 0-0 3 3 6 2 6 2 5 0 2 32
40 CHAMBERLAIN, A...... c 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 5 2 0 1 0 0 7
04 NELSON, Kestlee..... g 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 3 2 0 2 39
11 THORN, Erin......... g 7-18 3-9 4-4 0 3 3 0 21 3 6 0 2 36
15 OVERDIEK, Jen....... g 1-5 1-1 0-0 1 2 3 2 3 3 0 0 1 28
01 SELJAAS, Nancy...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
12 GATTEN, Angie....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
25 TAYLOR, Kali........ 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 10
32 KOZLOWSKI, Kristen.. 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 8
33 ANDERSON, Ambrosia.. 2-7 1-2 1-4 2 5 7 2 6 1 1 1 1 19
45 HANSEN, Lisa........ 3-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 6 0 1 1 0 14
TEAM................ 4 3 7 1
Totals.............. 17-51 5-14 5-8 11 22 33 14 44 13 18 2 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 5-24 20.8% 2nd Half: 12-27 44.4% Game: 33.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 35.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-2 0.0% 2nd Half: 5-6 83.3% Game: 62.5% 1
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HOME TEAM: New Mexico 19-8, 9-5 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 GREAR, Chelsea...... f 2-7 0-1 0-0 3 4 7 0 4 1 0 1 3 35
42 ARNDT, Lindsey...... f 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 4 0 1 0 1 17
40 ADAMS, Jordan....... c 10-14 1-1 4-5 1 2 3 0 25 3 5 1 0 27
21 MOORE, Mandi........ g 1-5 1-2 5-6 1 6 7 0 8 10 0 0 0 36
31 GARCIA, Cristal..... g 3-6 2-3 2-2 0 2 2 4 10 1 4 0 0 27
05 LEITZ, Abbie........ 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 0 12
24 FRANCIS, Jana....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3
32 SCAGLIONE, Tiffany.. 0-4 0-2 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 13
33 FOREST, Melissa..... 2-5 2-3 1-2 0 2 2 4 7 0 2 0 0 14
44 ADAMS, Daja......... 0-1 0-0 0-2 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 7
50 MCLEOD, Lauren...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 9
TEAM................ 1 4 5
Totals.............. 22-49 7-13 12-17 8 25 33 12 63 17 12 5 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-27 44.4% 2nd Half: 10-22 45.5% Game: 44.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 5-9 55.6% Game: 53.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 7-9 77.8% Game: 70.6% 2
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Officials: Rick Ruybalid, Eric Larson, Robert Strong
Technical fouls: BYU-TEAM. New Mexico-None.
Attendance: 17578
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 12 32 - 44
New Mexico.................... 31 32 - 63
