The pressure's off.
There are no more excuses.
The University of Hawaii women's basketball team no longer has to play a wait-and-see game regarding its seeding in next week's WAC Tournament. The Wahine don't have to hope that Colorado State loses to Utah on Wednesday.
Whether they win or lose this Friday in Albuquerque, the Wahine will finish in third place in the Pacific Division. Hawaii will play either TCU or Brigham Young in the tournament's opening game next Monday at 10:30 a.m. HST.
The only question is will the Wahine go to Las Vegas on a one-game roll or a four-game skid. That state of mind and momentum - or lack of it - will depend on whether Hawaii can repay New Mexico for spoiling the last home game of the season last Saturday by beating the Lobos in their home finale four days from now.
"It's all attitude," said Hawaii senior center Kendis Leeburg, who bowed out of the Special Events Arena with 17 points in the 52-51 defeat. "Right now, we have got to get our heads together. We've got to come out tenacious right from the get-go.
"We have the ability, but we need to start playing how we can play, not just in the second half, but from the start of the game."
All season long Hawaii (18-7, 11-4) has started slow but finished strong in the second half. As has happened in the previous two games - both losses - the effort came, but came too late.
The Wahine trailed by as many as 12 against the Lobos Saturday, the last at 41-29 with 10:30 remaining. Cheered on by a crowd of 1,949, Hawaii clawed back to take its first lead of the game at 49-48 with a 20-7 run, capped by the last of Nani Cockett's 19 points with 1:11 to go.
New Mexico, which had won only once in eight WAC road games, used a jumper by Anita Vuletic to go ahead at 52-51. Hawaii had 24 seconds to change the scoreboard but saw its frantic rally fall short when BJ Itoman was crowded along the baseline and stepped out with 1.7 seconds left.
"We were supposed to get the ball into Brandi (junior forward Ashby) then maybe have Maika (Cockett) take it in hard," said Itoman. "I thought there was more time on the clock to set it up. Maybe I should have taken the shot."
Itoman only hit 1 of 6 attempts but was 6 of 6 from the line for eight points. She and New Mexico's Tamika Stukes (6 points) played to a standoff in a classic battle between two of the WAC's premier point guards.
"Those two really went at it," said Lobo coach Don Flanagan. "It was a great effort by both of them. We tried to take her (Itoman) out of the game. We felt that she was the one person they all look to to get their offense started.
"This was our best road game by far. The most important thing is we gave it the kind of effort we haven't been giving. For us to win again (Friday), we'll have to duplicate the effort and see if we can't stop No. 20 (Cockett) from going to the basket. I think it's going to be a close game."
Much like their male counterparts, New Mexico has the potential to blow out opponents in The Pit. The Lobos (17-8, 8-7) are 10-1 at home this season, 6-1 in WAC play, with the only loss coming in overtime to Mountain Division leader Utah.
"We've got to sit down and see what we need to do to start playing some basketball here," said Hawaii coach Vince Goo. "We knew that New Mexico would be very decent and I don't think we, as coaches, are doing a very good job. Our team was not ready to play tonight.
"I feel terrible that Kendis and Tiffany (senior guard Fujimoto) had to finish their careers with a loss at home. But they're tough. It was their last home game but it wasn't their last game. Their last game is the one that really counts and they'll step it up."
Vuletic led the Lobos in scoring with 15 points. Abby Garchek added 12.