UNM women lose second straight
Beynon scores 28, but Lobos tumble in Wyoming
LARAMIE, Wyo. — For the first time this women’s basketball season, the University of New Mexico is on a losing streak.
Done in by icy perimeter shooting, the Lobos dropped a 66-55 road decision at Wyoming on Wednesday night, their second straight Mountain West Conference defeat. UNM (15-3, 3-2) slipped a halfgame behind the Cowgirls (10-5, 3-1) and UNLV (8-7, 3-1) in the league standings.
Cherise Beynon had a big night for New Mexico, scoring a game-high 28 points and keeping the visitors in the game. But starters Tesha Buck, Alex Lapeyrolerie and Jaisa Nunn struggled mightily at the Arena Auditorium, going a combined 2 for 24 from the field for four points. The trio came in averaging more than 42 points per game.
Buck and Lapeyrolerie, UNM’s top 3-point threats, went a combined 0 for 9 from beyond the arc and failed to score.
“If we hit even a few shots, we’re right there,” Lobo coach Mike Bradbury said in a postgame phone interview. “We played really hard, defended well, ran our offense plenty good enough, we just couldn’t make shots. Wyoming made just enough.”
Wyoming also struggled to score for most of the night but used two extended runs to take charge of the contest. Liv Roberts, who paced the Cowgirls with 19 points and 10 rebounds, scored seven points during a 9-0 tear in the second quarter that turned an 18-16 UNM lead into a 25-18 deficit.
The Cowgirls led 30-24 at halftime but broke things open with a 13-4 surge to start the third quarter. Wyoming took its largest lead, 57-41, on a Roberts jumper early in the fourth.
UNM scratched back into things
behind Beynon and N’Dea Flye, who scored 10 points. A Beynon 3-pointer trimmed the deficit to 60-53 with 3:53 remaining, and the Lobos twice had the ball with chances to get closer. But Lapeyrolerie’s open 3 with 3 minutes left rattled out, and Roberts later buried one to snuff out the rally.
“If Alex hits that one and we can set up our press, which was bothering (the Cowgirls), who knows?” Bradbury said. “That was just the story of the night. Wyoming did a good job defending the 3-point line, and the open shots we did get weren’t falling.”
Madi Washington scored nine points off the bench for UNM, which shot 35.4 percent overall and was 3 for 16 on 3-pointers. Bailee Cotton scored 13 points for the Cowgirls, who shot 42 percent overall and hit 7 of 20 from 3-point range. Wyoming improved to 7-0 at home.