Amy Eagan’s new Lobos open summer practice with defensive focus
Amy Eagan opened UNM summer workouts with charges, loose balls and a roster stocked with transfers, a first look at a tougher Lobos identity.
Defensive charges and loose balls set the tone at the Davalos Basketball Center as Amy Eagan put her rebuilt Lobos through their first summer workout and showed the style she wants in Albuquerque. The opener, held Tuesday, June 9, included 13 of UNM’s 15 roster players and started with a drill built around taking hits, chasing contacts and winning possession.
That mattered because Eagan inherited far more than a new job when she was hired March 31 as the seventh women’s basketball coach in UNM history. She arrived with a 329-191 career record, six NCAA Tournament appearances and six conference titles, and her teams went 165-57 over the previous seven seasons. At Lindenwood University, she guided a program through the jump from Division II to Division I, helped turn a two-win team into a 23-win squad that reached the WNIT Super 16 in 2024-25, and then tied for the Ohio Valley Conference title last season.
The first practice made clear that Eagan is trying to build a Lobos team around the same defensive edge and Princeton-based offense that have defined her best stretches. The roster on the floor reflected that reset: four returners, three transfers from Lindenwood, four transfers from other schools and four freshmen. Among the returners are Keiara Curtis, Valerie Norwood, Katie Duncan, Kaia Foster, Brynn Eshoo, Leonor Peixinho, Drew Jordon, Gracy Wernli and Laila Abdurraqib, while the newcomers include Maya Thompson, Quintilla Hidalgo, Kate Wernli, Savannah Stricker, Gracie Kelsey and Mila Reynolds.
Two players showed how much of this summer will be about timing, health and chemistry as much as talent. Katie Duncan was still in transit from Australia when practice began, and Gracy Wernli watched contact drills from the sideline while she recovers from ACL surgery that cut short her 2025-26 season at Lindenwood. For a staff that also includes Jordan Mellott, Lindsay Ward, Patrick Harrison, Julius Armstead, Cydney McHenry, Makayla Wallace and KK Rodriguez, the challenge now is turning a roster full of new pieces into a team that can defend, communicate and score in Eagan’s system.
Fans in Bernalillo County will get their first public look at the rebooted program on June 17 at 6 p.m. at The Pit, where the early question is not just who plays, but what kind of Lobos Eagan is building.
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