Rebounding, defending 3s foil Lobos on the road
UNM enters holiday break before opening MWC play
MILWAUKEE — Mike Bradbury liked most of what he saw from his University of New Mexico women’s basketball team Wednesday.
No, he didn’t like the final score of UNM’s 62-52 matinee loss at Marquette or a few of the unproductive possessions that helped the Golden Eagles (9-2) break the game open in the second half.
But Bradbury did like the gritty effort his Lobos (4-6) showed in front of a sellout crowd (announced at 3,700) at Al McGuire Center.
Alex Lapeyrolerie scored a team-best 14 points, and Jaisa Nunn added 12 as UNM controlled the pace and battled to the final buzzer. Superior rebounding and 3-point shooting, however, won the day for Marquette.
“Our kids had both feet in and followed the plan as best they could,” Bradbury said in a postgame phone interview. “I’m proud of them. Marquette is by far the best team we’ll play and we did what we had to do to give ourselves a chance. I can’t fault our effort one bit.”
The Golden Eagles, who were paced by McKayla Yentz’s 16 points, led 22-15 late in the first quarter, but UNM answered with a 12-3 surge. Lapeyrolerie’s 3-pointer later put the visitors up 30-28 with 3:30 left in the first half. A pair of late Lobo turnovers helped Marquette regain a 34-33 edge at halftime.
It was 38-37 midway through the third quarter when Natisha Hiedeman and Yentz combined to hit three consecutive 3-pointers to build the Golden Eagles’ lead to 47-37. Marquette hit 10 3-point shots in the game to UNM’s four.
“They hit some big-time 3s with our players all over them,” Bradbury said. “Not bad defense, just great shooting.”
New Mexico trimmed the deficit to 47-41 on a Richelle van der Keijl layup early in the fourth quarter, but Marquette followed with an 8-0 run that included a pair of UNM turnovers.
The Golden Eagles finished with a 15-5 advantage on points off turnovers and a 12-1 margin on second-chance points. Overall, Marquette
outrebounded the Lobos 53-39. Each team had 14 turnovers.
“We got murdered on the boards,” Bradbury conceded. “When it was 5-on-5 and a halfcourt game, we whipped them. But on second-chance points and points off turnovers, they outscored us 27-6. That was the difference.”
Van der Keijl, who had eight points and nine rebounds, left the game limping after a collision with 6 minutes left and did not return. Bradbury did not believe her injury was serious.
“I didn’t put her back in because we wanted to go small and try to disrupt them,” he said. “It worked for a while, but we couldn’t turn them over enough to come all the way back.”
NOTES: Wednesday’s game was part of a home-and-home series that will bring Marquette to the Pit next season … The Lobos were released for Christmas break after Wednesday’s game and will return to practice Dec. 26. They open Mountain West play Dec. 29 at Fresno State.