IN VEGAS, SEEKING SOME LUCK
But coach Bradbury is not inclined to call for a shakeup
The New Mexico women don’t think they need to do a lot to reverse their fortunes today, when they face Mountain Westleading UNLV.
It’s not back-to-the-drawingboard time for the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team.
Coach Mike Bradbury is certainly frustrated by recent events — specifically losses to Mountain West contenders Colorado State, Boise State and Wyoming by a combined 10 points over the last month. But those unhappy results have Bradbury focused on minor fixes rather than wholesale changes.
“When I look at our last seven games, I think we’ve been playing well,” Bradbury said. “We’re 4-3 in those games but all three losses were onepossession games in the last 30 seconds. We just need to keep working and finding ways to get a little better. We’re not that far off.”
The Lobos (20-8, 8-7) will get another shot at one of the Mountain West’s elite when they visit UNLV today. The Lady Rebels (17-9, 12-3) share the conference lead with Wyoming with three regular-season games remaining.
UNLV also is among the teams that have handed UNM a painfully close loss this Mountain West season — a 68-66 decision that ended with New Mexico’s Cherise Beynon missing a desperation 3-point try as time expired Jan. 17 at Dreamstyle Arena.
What will it take for the Lobos to get over the hump? Avoiding extended scoring droughts is part of the equation.
UNM held a 44-35 lead early in the third quarter of its first meeting with UNLV but went more than eight minutes without a field goal. The Lady Rebels went on a 21-3 tear during that span and held off a Lobo comeback down the stretch.
The Lobos made just one field goal in the final 6:12 of the third quarter in a 74-71 overtime loss at Colorado State on Jan. 27, and went more than eight minutes without a field goal in the first half of Wednesday’s 63-62 home loss to Wyoming.
“We have to figure out ways to score and stop those runs quicker,” Bradbury said. “Teams like Wyoming do a good job on defense but we’ve had our share of open looks. We need to do a better job capitalizing. It comes down to making shots.”
New Mexico did not shoot well (36.8 percent) in its first meeting with UNLV this season and has not fared well at cozy Cox Pavilion over the years. The Lobos have not won there since 2013 and are 8-23 against the Lady Rebels in Las Vegas.
Bucking that trend today will likely require UNM to at least hold its own on the boards against a much taller UNLV squad. The Lobos played primarily zone defense against the Lady Rebels in Albuquerque with mixed results. UNLV scored only 28 points in the paint but outrebounded UNM 41-35 and grabbed 13 offensive boards.
“We’ll mix it up a little more this time,” Bradbury said. “I think we have a good plan defensively but we have to execute it and we have to score enough. That means Jaisa (Nunn) and Cherise have to play well and, hopefully, other people chip in.”