Lobos win BIG
The UNM women complete a season sweep with a rout of New Mexico State
As bounce-back performances go, Monday night’s game at Dreamstyle Arena was off the charts.
Two days removed from a blowout loss at Arizona State, the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team hit on all cylinders in a stunning 107-53 rout of rival New Mexico State.
Two days after going 0 for 18 from 3-point range and scoring a seasonlow 47 points, the Lobos hit 17 of 34 from long range while establishing a season high for points.
It was UNM’s largest margin of victory in the longtime series against NMSU, and not even the Lobos saw it coming.
“Not at all,” junior Antonia Anderson
said. “Every time we play (the Aggies), it’s a dog fight. This was not the kind of outcome we expected.”
Ahlise Hurst scored 21 points to pace five UNM players in double figures. The Lobos forced the action almost from the outset and outscored the Aggies 41-2 on fast-break points.
“It was very important for us to have a game like this,” Hurst said. “We know what we can do if everyone plays together. That’s what happened tonight.”
Jaedyn De La Cerda scored 16 points, Anderson had 15, Shai McGruder added 12 points and Andriana Avent finished with 10 for UNM (8-4). All 11 players in uniform saw extended action and 10 scored — significant considering the Lobos will play three games in as many days starting Wednesday against Providence.
While just about everything went right for the Lobos on Monday, almost nothing worked for the cold-shooting Aggies (3-8). Gia Pack racked up 18 points and 12 rebounds, playing the entire 40 minutes, but NMSU shot just 31% from the field and went 1 for 9 from 3-point range.
“We were really good defensively,” UNM coach Mike Bradbury said. “Jayla Everett did a tremendous job on Pack, and Ahlise did a great job on (Aaliyah) Prince. You’re never going to keep Pack from scoring, but we made it hard, and that was the goal.”
UNM forced 23 turnovers leading directly to 29 points. The combina
tion of aggressive defense and cold NMSU shooting allowed the Lobos to play much of the game in transition.
“That’s when we’re at our best,” Bradbury said.
Arguably the game’s biggest shots came midway through the first quarter when Anderson and Hurst drained back-to-back 3’s to give UNM a 10-2 lead. The Lobos had missed their first four 3-point tries and 23 in a row dating back to last week’s win over Northern New Mexico.
“I was just thinking ‘Finally,’” Anderson said. “It had been since Mizzou (a span of six games) since I hit one, and nobody made one Saturday. It was big just to see a couple go in.”
UNM led 21-6 after one quarter and netted five more 3’s in the second on its way to a 44-20 halftime advantage. Sporting turquoise uniforms for their annual Nike N7 game, the Lobos got even hotter in the third quarter. They hit 5 of 7 from long range and scored 34 points in the period as the lead ballooned to 78-37.
Members of UNM’s band began chanting, “We want 100,” midway through the fourth quarter, and De La Cerda accommodated them. Her deep 3-pointer made the score 10145 with 2:17 remaining.
“We shot it well, obviously,” Bradbury said, “but what was important was for us to play this hard and this focused. That was the most locked-in we’ve been for a while. If we play that hard, we’ll get good enough results.”