UNM women grind out a victory
Beynon joins 1,000-500 club while helping down Nevada
Not many superlatives were needed to describe the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team’s performance against Nevada on Saturday night.
The game was a grind with one notable silver lining for the Lobos: the final score.
New Mexico 59, Nevada 50. Junior Cherise Beynon deserved star billing for UNM, scoring a game-high 19 points and grabbing six rebounds. Those numbers left Beynon with 1,013 points and 500 rebounds for her career. She became the 15th Lobo to reach both milestones.
Beynon also racked up six assists, four steals and a block in 35 minutes, but didn’t consider it a stellar performance because she also amassed eight of UNM’s 20 turnovers.
“I’m kind of upset right now because of my turnovers,” Beynon said. “I was aware of the other stats, and they’re nice because everyone wants to have a good career. But I really feel like I just had an OK game. We did just enough to get the win.”
The Lobos (11-9, 7-3 Mountain West) led most of the way but could not shake the determined Wolf Pack (8-12, 2-7) until the final minute. Turnovers, rebounds and chilly shooting never really allowed UNM to find its offensive stride.
New Mexico’s 59 points were its fewest in a win this season. It was also the first time UNM has won when being outrebounded. (Nevada had 46 boards to the Lobos’ 42.)
“It was a hard-fought defensive struggle,” Lobos coach Mike Bradbury said, “definitely not pretty. We couldn’t keep them off the boards and we turned it over too much, especially in the first half. But with all that, we found a way to get it done in the fourth quarter and pull out a win.”
Alex Lapeyrolerie scored 13 points for the home team, including a key 3-pointer with 2:36 left that gave UNM a 56-48 lead.
To that point, Nevada had battled through its own offensive woes (20 turnovers and 27.9 percent shooting) to stay within striking distance.
“Nevada is extremely wellcoached and had a really good plan both times they played us,” Bradbury said. “Defensively, they did what everyone does against us — packed five people in the paint and made us shoot ‘HORSE’ shots. We made just enough.”
Lobo posts Richelle van der Keijl and Jaisa Nunn, who combined for just two field goals in UNM’s 69-63 win Jan. 7 in Reno, had precious little room to work again Saturday. They were efficient this time, however, combining for 17 points and 16 rebounds. Van der Keijl also had a season-high five blocks.
Nevada got a team-best 12 points from post Terae Briggs but, like UNM, could not do much damage from the perimeter. The Wolf Pack went 4-for-23 from 3-point range.
Still, the game went back and forth with seven ties and 10 lead changes before UNM finally gained control. Van der Keijl scored on a high-low post feed from Nunn to give the Lobos a 44-43 lead with 2:11 left in the third quarter. Beynon then scored the next six points to extend the lead to 50-43 early in the fourth.
Mykiel Burleson finished with nine points and Kianna Keller had her usual hustling contributions for UNM, collecting six rebounds, six steals, two blocks and an assist. Keller missed her two shot attempts.
SUNDAY MATINEE: The Lobos will host Northern New Mexico today in what is essentially a makeup game. UNM’s scheduled Dec. 18 contest against Eastern Illinois was canceled because weather issues prevented the Panthers from traveling to Albuquerque. The teams were not able to find a suitable makeup date, so today’s game was added instead.
It will be a quick turnaround for both teams. Northern New Mexico dropped a 78-55 decision to College of the Ozarks in Española on Saturday.
The NAIA Eagles (11-14) feature 13 players from New Mexico, including leading scorer Demetria Clichee (Navajo Pine High School), who averages 15 points per game. Cheyenne Cordova (Pojoaque Valley) and Ashley John (Shiprock) also average double figures in points.
All tickets for today’s contest will be $2.