Lobos’ surge comes up short
UNM women fall to Rebels in Pit
Life without Jaisa Nunn started on an unpleasant note for the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team Wednesday night.
The Lobos spent most their evening at the Pit trying desperately to overcome a dreadful first half and never quite pulled it off in a 61-52 loss to UNLV. UNM sliced an 18-point deficit to one early in the fourth quarter, but the Rebels finished the game on a 10-2 run that included going 6-for-6 from the foul line.
UNLV (15-7, 6-4 Mountain West) swept the season series from the Lobos (12-10, 7-4), who never really found their shooting touch in either game.
Cherise Beynon scored a gamehigh 20 points, and Richelle van der Keijl racked up 16 points and 12 rebounds for UNM. Problem was, the other five Lobos who saw action combined for just 16 points.
“Missing shots,” UNM coach Mike Bradbury said, “it’s really that simple. Outside of Cherise and Richelle, our other players
went 5-for-32.
“That’s not a knock on our kids. They played their tails off and I think we’re playing a little over our heads most nights. But we have to make more shots to have any chance to win.”
The Lobos clearly missed Nunn, who suffered a seasonending knee injury Sunday against Northern New Mexico. The 6-foot-3 sophomore averaged 10.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, providing much-needed offense off the bench.
In her absence, UNLV double-teamed van der Keijl and trapped Beynon at every opportunity Wednesday. Both players produced but had to work incredibly hard to do it. Beynon played nearly all 40 minutes, sitting out just one possession when UNM was forced to foul in the final minute.
The Rebels, who got 13 points apiece from twins Dylan and Dakota Gonzalez, shot only marginally better (32.8 percent to UNM’s 32.2). But UNLV hit eight 3-pointers to UNM’s five, including a dagger on the most crucial series of the game.
It came with 2:09 left and UNLV nursing a 52-50 lead. Bradbury called timeout and the Lobos followed with a play that popped Alex Lapeyrolerie open for a potential go-ahead 3-pointer. Her shot missed off the back iron as part of a 1-for13 shooting night.
Twenty seconds later Dylan Gonzalez hit her thrd 3-pointer of the night to make it 55-50.
“That was a backbreaker,” Bradbury said.
So was the ensuing inbounds play, as UNLV denied Beynon the ball and UNM’s Kianna Keller was whistled for a fivesecond violation. The Rebels proceeded to rebound two of their missed shots and milk 59 seconds off the clock before Dakota Gonzalez hit two foul shots with 41 seconds left.
Rebounds were a problem for the Lobos all night, as UNLV finished with a 46-37 advantage. The Rebels had 19 offensive rebounds.
“We defended them well,” Beynon said, “but we knew they were a good rebounding team. We’d been told how important it was to rebound and we didn’t do it well enough.”
UNLV made the key plays in the final two minutes, but the first 20 were even more one-sided. The Lobos started 3-for-14 from the field with six turnovers in the first quarter and fell into a 19-6 hole.
Meanwhile, everything was going right for the Rebels, who had a flat Dakota Gonzalez 3-pointer bounce high off the front rim and in. Later, post Katie Powell slapped a rebound off the glass and watched it fall in to make the score 24-6.
UNM trailed 33-17 at halftime but outscored UNLV 24-12 in the third quarter to get back in the game. Beynon and van der Keijl combined for 21 points in the quarter, and Beynon opened the fourth with a 3 to trim the Rebels’ lead to 45-44.
“I give our kids credit for fighting back,” Bradbury said, “but that first quarter shocked us. It was tough to recover from that.”