UNM’s run comes to end with loss to TCU in WNIT
TCU overcomes 14-point deficit in Pit to oust Lobos from WNIT
It wasn’t the last hurrah these Lobos had in mind.
The UNM women’s basketball team’s postseason run concluded Thursday night with an 81-72 loss to TCU in round three of the WNIT at Dreamstyle Arena. The Horned Frogs shot a sizzling 59.4 percent in the second half, while the Lobos were undone by an icy third quarter during which they shot 18.8 percent.
New Mexico (25-11) fought to the finish, trimming a nine-point deficit to 71-69 with 3:56 remaining. But the Frogs (22-12) were simply the better team after halftime, advancing to the WNIT quarterfinals while UNM’s 2017-18 campaign came to an end.
“I was really proud of our team,” Lobo coach Mike Bradbury said. “We fought, we competed. We just really struggled in the second half, and give TCU credit for that.”
It was a difficult ending for UNM’s three seniors in uniform to swallow, but Cherise Beynon, Tesha Buck and Laneah Bryan put on an impressive final performance. All three were cheered and congratulated at game’s end by a lively crowd announced at 3,938,
“I think the effort was there,” Buck said. “We did leave it all on the floor. We just had a few too many breakdowns tonight to get the win.”
Buck led the way for the Lobos, scoring 24
points and hitting four 3-pointers to push her single-season school record to 104.
Beynon, as usual, stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals. She finished her stellar career with 1,776 points, 616 rebounds, 615 assists and 261 steals — ranking among the program’s top five in each category.
Asked if any of the stats were particularly meaningful, Beynon said, “Not really. I just wanted to win basketball games, try to bring home championships and to change the program. I think it’s headed in a great direction now.”
Unfortunately for the Lobos, Beynon was also involved in a play that turned the momentum Thursday. UNM started fast, led 34-20 on a Bryan 3-pointer midway through the second quarter and seemed to have the Frogs on their heels.
It was 34-22 when TCU’s Jayde Woods made an off-balance drive and leaned into Beynon as she fell toward the baseline. A few second after Woods’ shot missed, Beynon was whistled for her third foul with 3:40 left in the first half. TCU promptly went on an 11-4 run to cut the deficit to 38-33.
“Yeah, we had to play without one of our best players,” Bradbury said of the call. “… It made a big difference.”
The Frogs seemed to take some momentum into halftime and quickly built on it in the third quarter. UNM, which was burned by several bad third quarters during the second half of the season, missed its first seven shots while TCU turned a 40-33 deficit into a 42-42 deadlock.
TCU then began attacking the basket off the dribble to good effect and went 12-for-19 from the field in the quarter. The Frogs took a 62-56 lead to the fourth.
“That’s been our problem all year, guarding the ball,” Bradbury said. “We were so concerned with (the Frogs) them shooting 3s, we couldn’t keep them in front of us.”
UNM regained some of its offensive touch in the fourth but could not get enough defensive stops to regain the lead. Jaisa Nunn finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, her 19th double-double of the season, for the Lobos.
Post Jordan Moore had a team-high 15 points for TCU, which outscored UNM 50-26 in the paint.
Asked to sum up his second season at UNM, one which ended one win short of the program record, Bradbury shook his head.
“It’s still raw right now,” he said, “but this is what we want the standard to be, playing late into March every year. Once we get a chance to look back, I think this season will look pretty special.”