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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Senior guard Cristal Garcia had a career-best performance off the bench to lead the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team to an 86-75 victory over the New Mexico State Aggies on Tuesday night at The Pit in Albuquerque. Garcia notched career-bests with 20 points and five rebounds in a career-high 29 minutes as New Mexico cruised to its 13th-straight win over its intrastate rivals in front of a season-high crowd of 8,920.
UNM led from start to finish, opening the game with a 20-3 burst over the first 10 minutes of the contest. Garcia scored nine-straight points, including a 3-pointer to cap the Lobo run.
New Mexico State would answer however, whittling the Lobo lead down to 11, 39-28, at the half behind six three’s over the final 9:26 of the period. The Aggies rarely ventured inside the arc during the first half, preferring instead to fire a bevy of long 3-point shots. NMSU finished the period 7-23 from beyond the arc, making and attempting more threes than any the Lobos’ previous four opponents had in an entire game this year.
The Aggies long range bombing began to pay off early in the second half as guard Jenia Dimitrova capped a quick 6-0 NMSU spurt with one of her seven three’s on the night to cut the UNM lead to just five points, 39-34 at the 19-minute mark. New Mexico State would get no closer though as New Mexico reasserted itself in the paint, outscoring the Aggies 13-6 over the next four minutes to reclaim a 52-40 advantage.
NMSU continued to pump three’s from outside, hitting an impressive 7-11 in the second half, but could not contend with UNM’s physical presence inside. The Lobos outscored the Aggies 32-14 in the paint and did a nice job converting errant NMSU perimeter passes into points with 26 points off turnovers.
Sophomore point guard Mandi Moore gave the Lobos a nice lift in the second half and finished with a season-high 20 points on 7-13 shooting from the floor. Senior center Jordan Adams added 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, while junior forward Melissa Forest recorded 18 points to go with nine boards. Dimitrova led NMSU with 28 points on 10-22 shooting, including 7-17 from beyond the arc. Point guard Mari Sanchez added 22 points, including 18 points on 6-10 shooting from 3-point range.
UNM matched its season-high by shooting 50.8 percent (30-59) from the floor, while outrebounding the Aggies 44-33. The Lobos also improved to 18-0, dating back to last season, when scoring 65 or more points. New Mexico State, which set an NCAA record with 21 3-pointers made in a game versus Louisiana-Lafayette last season, finished the night 14-34 (41.2%) from 3-point range. The Aggies were just 11-32 (34.4%) from inside the arc.
New Mexico will face a stern test this weekend when the 16th-ranked Texas Longhorns come to town on Saturday, Dec. 7. Tip-off in The Pit is set for 2 p.m. (MST).