Unbeaten no more
Oklahoma thrashes New Mexico women
A lot of things have gone right for the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team this season. On Saturday almost everything went wrong.
The Lobos’ previously perfect record suffered its first ugly blemish in a 105-63 blowout road loss to Oklahoma. UNM (11-1) saw its program record-tying 11-game win streak snuffed out in emphatic fashion by the hotshooting Sooners, who used two huge scoring runs to assume command.
New Mexico was without junior post Jaisa Nunn, who is
undergoing concussion protocol after being injured during a Dec. 10 game against Navy. Freshman Antonia Anderson made her first collegiate start, but the Lobos’ normally potent offense fizzled at the Lloyd Noble Center.
Oklahoma took full advantage, leading from wire-to-wire and never allowing the Lobos to mount a serious threat. Ana Llanusa scored 27 points to lead the Sooners, who shot 47 percent to UNM’s icy 27.4 percent.
“The first quarter basically
decided it,” Lobos coach Mike Bradbury said in a postgame phone interview. “Oklahoma came out playing like a desperate team and we didn’t. Once they got a big lead and the pressure was off, they just started hitting everything.”
Alex Lapeyrolerie scored 18 points to pace New Mexico, including a driving layup that trimmed Oklahoma’s early lead to 13-9. The Sooners then finished the first quarter with a 15-3 run to make the score 28-12, hitting six of their 15 3-pointers in the game’s first 10 minutes.
The barrage continued with a 19-0 run to open the second quarter and the rout was officially on. The Sooners led 56-25 by halftime and made it a laugher by scoring the first 18 points of the second half.
In addition to shooting well, Oklahoma dominated the boards. Post Vionise Pierre-Louis racked up a double-double (16 points, 13 rebounds), helping the Sooners outrebound UNM 60-32.
The absence of Nunn, who averages 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds and is UNM’s tallest starter at 6-foot-3, played a part in the one-sided outcome. How big a role, Bradbury was not certain.
“I think not having Jaisa may have hurt us mentally more than anything,” Bradbury said. “Once we got behind, we just didn’t seem to have as much fight as we usually do. That was disappointing.”
Lobo leading scorer Cherise Beynon struggled, finishing with five points on 2-of-12 shooting with six assists and eight turnovers in 26 minutes.
If there was a bright spot for UNM, it may have been the play of sophomore Mykiel Burleson, who scored a season-high 14 points in 14 minutes. Burleson, who is recovering from ACL surgery, has seen limited action this season.
NOTES: Bradbury said Nunn’s availability for Wednesday’s home game against Lamar will depend on whether she clears concussion protocol in time. … Senior Tesha Buck left Saturday’s game after a third-quarter collision but was not seriously injured. “She just got the wind knocked out of her,” Bradbury said.