Lobo women’s basketball team falls short, losing to Wyoming by one point
UNM women just couldn’t close point gap against Wyoming
Poise, 3-point sharpshooting and a few timely bounces made the Wyoming Cowgirls one tough bunch Wednesday night at Dreamstyle Arena.
Wyoming didn’t exactly shoot the Pit lights out, but it nailed enough open 3-pointers to pull out a 63-62 victory over a frustrated University of New Mexico women’s basketball team.
The Lobos (20-8, 8-7 Mountain West) spent most of the second half playing from behind after a 13-3 run gave the Cowgirls (19-7, 12-3) a 40-31 lead midway through the third quarter. UNM scratched its way back to trail by just two points in the closing minutes but simply could not get over the hump against the patient Cowgirls.
Reserves Selale Kepenc and Marta Gomez combined to score 15 of Wyoming’s 18 points in the fourth quarter and each contributed momentum-stopping 3-pointers. Kepenc finished finished 4-for-4 from long range and scored a team-high 15 points for the Cowgirls, who scored 28 bench points to New Mexico’s four.
Wyoming extended its bizarre trend of shooting better from 3-point range (10-for-20 Wednesday) than from inside the arc (10-for-33). Wyoming has shot a better percentage from 3-point range than from 2-point range throughout MWC play.
“If you don’t follow the plan it’s really hard to stop them,” Lobo coach Mike Bradbury said. “It’s my fault for not making it clearly understood, but we missed assignments and left them wide open probably four or five times. That probably happens in every game, but the difference is, (the Cowgirls) make you pay every single time.”
Wyoming coach Joe Legerski shrugged when asked about his team’s odd tendency to shoot better from long distance than from point-blank range.
“That stat makes zero sense,” Legerski said. “I can’t explain that. We’re a 3-point team and for whatever reason our shooters take them with confidence. I’m just glad when they go in. We needed every one we made tonight.”
Jaisa Nunn scored a gamehigh 19 points — 12 in the fourth quarter — and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Lobos. But Nunn was limited to 28 minutes by foul trouble and swarmed by Wyoming’s defense when she was in the game.
UNM’s perimeter shooters could not pick up the slack, going 5-for-17 from 3-point range. Cherise Beynon scored 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting, while N’Dea Flye scored eight points and finished 2-for-11 from the field.
Tesha Buck had 11 points and hit two 3-pointers to break UNM’s single-season record for made 3’s with 83, but she attempted just six shots.
“(The Cowgirls) pack so many people in the paint on defense,” Nunn said. “We usually get a lot of points in the paint, but we couldn’t do that tonight.”
UNM started well enough, grabbing a 13-5 lead and forcing Wyoming to settle for difficult shots early. But the Cowgirls suddenly began to find open 3-point shooters and sandwiched a 14-1 run around the first-quarter break.
The Lobos went more than eight minutes without a field goal during the span and were probably fortunate to be trailing just 25-24 at halftime. However, Taylor Rusk and Natalie Baker swished open 3’s during the third-quarter run that put Wyoming ahead to stay.
UNM had a single opportunity to tie in the fourth quarter, trailing 58-55 and getting the ball back on a Flye steal with 49 seconds remaining. But Flye gave the ball back when Rusk intercepted her cross-court pass, and the Lobos never got a potential tying shot up.
Nunn’s 3-pointer at the buzzer —her first attempt from beyond the arc this season — left the Lobos a point short.
“We made a lot of mental mistakes,” Nunn said, “and those cost you in a one-point game. We’ve got to do a better job buckling down in practice and sticking to the game plan.”