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Albuquerque, N.M. – The University of New Mexico womens basketball team held the nations most proficient three point shooting squad to just 6-23 shooting from three point range, and in so doing, picked up a very important second conference win of the season with a 58-52 defeat of the Brigham Young University Cougars Thursday night in the Pit. With the win, the Lobos not only positioned themselves near the top of the Mountain West Conference leaderboard, they also avenged one of only five losses in the Pit last season. The win improves UNM to 13-4, 2-1 on the season. With the loss, BYU drops to 10-6, 1-2.
The game began s a see-saw battle, as the first 11:30 of play saw eight lead changes. Over the next six minutes of play however, the Lobos asserted themselves on defense, resulting in a 10-0 run and a 30-25 halftime lead. UNM owned the second halfs first 12 minutes of play, outscoring BYU 17-6 in that stretch, and taking a commanding 47-31 lead.
The Cougars clawed back however, going on an 18-4 run, which included four three-pointers, and cutting the Lobo lead to two, 51-49, with just 2:24 left to play. UNM finally put away the Cougars with a dramatic offensive rebound and three-point-play by junior forward Chelsea Grear with just 74 seconds left.
UNM was lead in scoring by junior center Jordan Adams with 13 points. Adams also added six rebounds and a team-high four assists before fouling out, for the first time this year, with just under one minute to play. Freshman point guard Mandi Moore added 12 points and a team and-high nine rebounds and four assists, along with three steals in 39 minutes of action. Moores nine rebounds tied her career-high. The third Lobo in double figures was freshman forward Lindsey Arndt, who added 11 points and five rebounds.
BYUs Jennifer Leitner lead all scorers with a game-high 15 points. Leitner shot a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line and also added eight rebounds. Senior guard Stacy Jensen was the only other Cougar in double figures, with 12 points. The teams leading scorer, junior guard Erin Thorn (who averages 18 points per game) was held to just eight points on 3-12 shooting from the field. Thorns problems from the three-point-arc mirrored those of her entire team, as she shot just 2-10 from three point range.
The Lobos will next be in action on Saturday, January 19 when they host the other MWC foe from the Beehive State, the University of Utah. That game will begin at 7:00 pm as the second part of a Lobo basketball doubleheader, with the Lobo men squaring off against BYU in the early game at 1:00.9