Boise State edges Lobos on last-second basket

Offensive rebounds help Broncos rally past shorthanded New Mexico

BOISE, Idaho — The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team came up one basket — and one player — short Wednesday night at Boise State.

Marijke Vanderscaaf had 26 points, 11 rebounds and hit a go-ahead baseline jumper with 0.7 seconds remaining to lift the Broncos (17-7, 7-6) to a 64-62 victory over the short-handed Lobos (14-11, 9-5) at Taco Bell Arena.

UNM’s Alex Lapeyrolerie, who tied the game with a long 3-pointer with 26 seconds left, launched a turnaround 3 from the sideline as time expired but the ball banked off the backboard, hit the rim, bounced up and fell off. Lapeyrolerie finished with 17 points.

New Mexico led for most of the game and held a 53-43 lead on Richelle van der Keijl’s layup early in the fourth quarter. But van der Keijl, who led the Lobos with 22 points and 13 rebounds, picked up her fifth foul on a moving screen call with 3:14 left and UNM leading 59-56.

With van der Keijl out, Boise State dominated the glass down the stretch. The Broncos missed three times on a possession before Brooke Pahukoa’s jumper made it 59-58, and Vanderschaaf was later hit two free throws after being fould making an offensive rebound to give her team the lead.

Team rebounds were tied at halftime but Boise State finished with a 49-40 advantage.

“Richelle fouling out hurt us,” Lobo coach Mike Bradbury said in a postgame phone interview, “but the big problem was we didn’t rebound. We got outscored 20-6 on second-chance points. That’s usually our strength.”

UNM had just eight players in uniform because of injuries and employed just six for most of the game. Jayda Bovero scored 11 points off the bench for the Lobos, while Cherise Beynon added 10. Beynon, UNM’s leading scorer, had a cold-shooting night and finished 3-for-17 from the field.

New Mexico outshot the Broncos overall (36 percent to 34) but attempted 10 fewer shots thanks to Boise State’s 23 offensive rebounds.

“I’m happy with how hard we played,” Bradbury said, “and that might’ve been as good as we’ve played on defense all year. We did a nice job running offense, too, but for some reason we didn’t rebound.”

The Lobos limited Pahukoa, Boise State’s leading scorer, to seven points and held starters Yaiza Rodriguez and Marta Hermida scoreless. But reserves Riley Lupfer and Braydey Hodgins scored 11 and 10 points. Hodgins scored seven of her points in the fourth quarter.

UNM remained a game behind second-place Wyoming in the MWC standings after the Cowgirls lost 61-54 at Colorado State. Fourth-place UNLV was idle.