Lobos lose their 3rd straight
UNM’s Sanchez: ‘We tighten up in games’
Confidence and points were in short supply Saturday at the Pit.
The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team could not jump-start its stagnant offense and suffered a third straight loss, this time falling 51-46 to San Diego State.
Statistical reasons for the defeat were not hard to find. UNM (11-10, 4-6 Mountain West) shot 30 percent from the field, went 2-for-17 from 3-point range and was made to pay dearly for its 17 turnovers. The Aztecs (7-15, 2-9), who snapped a ninegame losing streak, collected 23 fast-break points and 18 of them came directly off Lobo turnovers.
But mindset seemed every bit as telling in Saturday’s outcome.
San Diego State’s half-court offense was no more effective than New Mexico’s, but the Aztecs took every opportunity to attack the basket and capitalized on many.
The Lobos, meanwhile, forced 18 SDSU turnovers but scored just nine fast-break points. All too often the Lobos pulled the ball out of transition and played passively in their half-court offense, frequently forcing up difficult shots with the clock running down or turning the ball over.
“We tighten up in games,” Lobos coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “The things we do against our practice guys every day, we’re not doing in games. It’s definitely frustrating.”
Sanchez and her coaching staff held a long meeting with players immediately after the game. Players, she said, did most of the talking.
Sophomore Cherise Beynon, who led the Lobos with 13 points, said confidence was a primary topic.
“People are playing scared,” Beynon said. “They’re scared to miss shots, scared to mess up, scared that if they make a mistake they’ll get taken out. You can’t play that way.
“Even if (Sanchez) takes you out, you know you’re going to go back in. You have to be confident, not worry about mistakes and just try to make something positive happen.”
Sanchez attempted to boost her team’s sputtering offense with a lineup change. Sophomore Jayda Bovero and freshman Jaisa Nunn made their first career starts, and for a while things looked promising. Bovero hit a jumper, Nunn cashed in four early points and UNM led 11-9 midway through the first quarter.
But when UNM went to its bench, scoring ground to a halt. The Lobos managed just one basket over a 9-minute span and SDSU used an 11-2 run to take a 20-13 lead.
“I changed the lineup because we needed to have a better start,” Sanchez said, “and I thought we did. But we had to bring people in to give the starters a rest, and it was not a good stretch for that group.”
UNM cut the deficit to 22-21 at halftime, but the starting unit fizzled to open the third quarter. The Lobos missed two layups and committed five turnovers on their first seven possessions, allowing the opportunistic Aztecs to build their largest lead at 30-21.
McKynzie Fort scored six of her game-high 22 points on fastbreak opportunities during the Aztecs’ run.
Again the Lobos rallied, this time behind Beynon and Alexa Chavez, who chipped in five points, four rebounds and a steal in 14 solid minutes in her second game back from a leg injury. Beynon gave UNM a 38-36 lead with a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.
But SDSU netted 3s on its next three possessions and eventually rebuilt an eight-point lead. UNM’s offense could not answer, managing just eight points amid a slew of missed layups and jumpers in the fourth quarter.
“We’re playing a lot less confident than we did earlier in the season,” said Nunn, who finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. “I think it’s like Cherise said, people are just afraid to make mistakes. But we have to push past that. We have to find ourselves.”