No. 20 New Mexico 85, Colorado St. 51

2/8/2006 11:07 PM

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Dionne Marsh scored 21 points and reserve guard Julie Briody had four steals in the first half as No. 20 New Mexico routed Colorado State 85-51 Wednesday night.

New Mexico (17-6, 7-3 Mountain West) snapped a two-game losing streak and avoided losing three in a row for the first time in nearly six years. The Lobos, who lost road games at Brigham Young and Utah last week, also extended their home winning streak in the conference to 32 games.

Colorado State (8-13, 2-8) has lost eight of nine. Molly Nohr and Melissa Dennett each scored 12 points to lead the Rams. Sara Hunter (10 points) and Nohr (eight) accounted for 18 of the Rams' 20 first-half points. CSU's only other points in the first 20 minutes came on an offensive rebound basket by center Lindsay Thomas.

Marsh, who shot 8-for-10 while playing just 22 minutes, consistently found holes in the Rams' defense to score off turnaround jumpers in the lane over the taller frontline of Thomas, Dennett and Marilyn Moulton.

Back-to-back baskets by Nohr gave the Rams their only lead of the game at 11-10. Marsh scored after grabbing an offensive rebound to start a 10-0 run by New Mexico. Briody had three steals during the run, two of which led to successive baskets by Angela Hartill.

Briody deflected a Colorado State pass in the final seconds of the first half, then scored at the other end to give the Lobos a 39-20 lead at the break.

New Mexico ended any comeback bid by the Rams by opening the second half 5-for-6 in a 13-2 run. Brandi Kimble, who along with Briody scored 13 points apiece, hit a 3-pointer for a 52-22 lead with 16:18 left.

Colorado State did not shoot a free throw until the 11:50 mark of the second half when Liz Kramer was fouled inside. New Mexico shot 37 free throws to the Rams' 10 and the Lobos outrebounded the Rams 41-28.