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Laramie — Sophomore Melissa Forest came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points, including 10 straight during a key stretch in the second half, to lead the New Mexico Lobos to a 70-61 victory over the Wyoming Cowgirls.
The Lobos improved to 21-6 overall and 10-3 in the Mountain West Conference to stay one game behind league-leader and nationally-ranked Colorado State.
UNM and CSU close out the regular season Saturday afternoon in Fort Collins. Tipoff is 2 p.m. from Moby Arena. The Rams are 22-5 in all games, 11-2 in the MWC. A win would give New Mexico a share of the conference title and a season sweep of Colorado State.
Leading Wyoming just 42-40 early in the second half, Forest scored eight straight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers, to hand the Lobos a 50-40 edge with 12:33 left. UNM grabbed its biggest lead of the game when Tiffany Scaglione hit a 15-footer for a 56-44 margin with 9:51 remaining.
The Cowgirls pared the deficit to 60-55 with less than three minutes to go, but UNM thwarted the comeback attempt. Forest got an offensive putback and was fouled with 1:56 left. She missed the free throw, but Chelsea Grear grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Grear made both charities to push the lead back to 10 at 66-56. Senior Molly McKinnon secured New Mexicos 10th straight triumph over Wyoming with four free throws in the final 31 seconds.
Forest made 6 of 7 shots from the floor in only 18 minutes. McKinnon and Jordan Adams contributed 12 points apiece. Grear finished with 11, including eight of the Lobos final 14 points of the game.
The Lobos took a 9-6 lead by making three 3-pointers, two of those by McKinnon. The Cowgirls, who made seven of their first eight shots from the field, answered by scoring 10 straight to take a 16-9 advantage. The lead grew to nine (24-15) on a basket by Carly Stucky.
UNM responded with a 12-3 burst to tie the score at 27. The Lobo reserves were responsible for 10 points during the run, including a career-high five points from junior post Daja Adams, who had scored just 12 points this season coming into the game. New Mexico closed the half with an 8-2 run to take a 37-33 lead at the break.
Its the second consecutive game – and fifth time this season – that the Lobos have overcome at least a nine-point deficit to win.
Six Lobo frontcourt players combined for 50 points. UNM got 28 points from its reserves, 14 in each half. Ten different Lobos scored in the first period. New Mexico was solid from 3-point, converting 6 of 13 attempts (46%), compared to its season average of 31.7%. The Lobos outrebounded the Cowgirls, 43-32.a