It was a typical BYU-New Mexico first half score: 38-14 for the Cougars. You know, the kind where Ty Detmer rolls up 320 yards with four touchdown passes with 30 minutes still to play.
But this was basketball, not football, and the dominance of the BYU women's basketball team was such that the Lobos' 14 points were the fewest in any half in the history of the Western Athletic Conference's women's basketball tournament.The Cougars cruised to an 82-61 opening round victory and now join the rest of the women's teams for a day of rest today before resuming semifinal round action at 3 p.m. Friday against UTEP in the Delta Center.
The Lobos played the Cougars tough in the two regular season games, outscoring BYU in the first half before losing, 60-48 in the game in Provo and taking the Cougs to overtime before losing, 70-64, in Albuquerque.
BYU's strategy Tuesday night was pretty simple, keep the pressure on the Lobos with a fullcourt press. And while the press had a few holes in the game in Albuquerque, it was as tight as a Star Trek force field at the Huntsman Center.
There was Tomika Young running cross court to pick off a pass (an interception?). And, hey, wasn't that Tomika Young darting past a Lobo to pick off another one? It was. Young wound up with a tournament record seven steals and got considerable assistance from Thais Kidd and Debbie Dimond, who each added three steals.
Young, Kidd and Dimond were converting offensively as well, staking the Cougars to a 10-1 lead. The Lobos didn't score a field goal until 14:36 remained in the half, and finished the half shooting only 20 percent.
And when the Lobos did end a drought to make the score 20-7, in came BYU super sub Behka Stafford to sink them. The 5-10 freshman from Auburn, Wash., who has a deft touch, arched in a 3-pointer from the left angle, canned a free throw, made a three-point play after being fouled while scoring underneath, and added a 15-foot shot in a fiveminute stint that saw the Cougars increase their lead from 20-7 to 33-12.
The Cougars let down in the second half but were their huge lead allowed them to. Kidd made three 3-pointers and was the game's leading scorer with 17 points. Stafford added 15, Dimond 13 and Kim Henry 10. Christy Romero paced the Lobos with 16.
"Our press was the key . . . that was the real difference in the game," said BYU coach Jeanie Wilson, whose top-seeded Cougars are now 22-4 for the season.
On to Round 2.