New Mexico Lobos Women’s Basketball – Sunday In The Pit
New Mexico 61, Eastern New Mexico 49
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The numbers that mattered, of course, were on the scoreboard: Lobos 61, Eastern New Mexico 49.
But the numbers that produced a lot of the numbers on the board came from inside the paint. New Mexico outscored the Zias 42-8 in the lane. New Mexico had 18 offensive boards to five for the visitors from Portales.
“That’s what we wanted to do,” said Lobo Coach Yvonne Sanchez referring to her team dominating inside for the exhibition win.
Said Khadijah Shumpert, who had 10 points and 12 rebounds: “Looking inside was a big part of the game and should have been.”
The Lobos had the advantage inside and probably should have added to that advantage at the free-throw line. The Lobos went 7-of-20 and lost the point battle at the stripe by four points despite shooting six more freebies than Eastern. The Zias went 11-of-14 from the free line.
“Our free throws were terrible,” said Sanchez. “I’m really disappointed in that effort. That means you are not concentrating. You don’t have your mind right.”
The Lobos might not have had their minds right in the first half either. The Zias took an early lead before UNM pulled into a 33-29 halftime bulge. Lobo Bryce Owens said a motivational factor came at halftime with, “Coach yelling at us.”
“No disrespect (to Eastern),” said Owens. “But there is no way we should have won by only 12 points.”
Said Coach Sanchez: “It was a halftime talking to.”
The Lobos played Sunday in The Pit without Ebony Walker (suspension) and Antiesha Brown, who is healing from off-season surgery. Brown is expected to be cleared for the Lobos’ venture this coming weekend in the Maggie Dixon Classic in Chicago. UNM opens with UTPA (Texas Pan American) and then the Lobos face Texas A&M and DePaul. Stanford will visit The Pit on Nov. 24.
The Lobos had three inside players in double figures, each with 10 points: Shumpert, Josie Greenwood and Alexa Chavez. UNM won the board battle 41-29.
Eastern’s Tori Tucker led all scorers with 21 points going 7-of-13 from the field. “She was the best player on the floor today,” said Sanchez. “We just couldn’t guard her.”
Freshman Cherise Beynon had five assists for UNM, which had only 12 assists in a game in which the Lobos scored 42 points in the paint. A big reason for that was the Lobos beat Eastern in second-chance points 17-to-3. UNM also had 24 points off turnovers to 10 points for Eastern.
“They didn’t have a tall post and we wanted to get the ball inside,” said Sanchez. “We feel we are strong in the post and deep in the post. They did a good job tonight.
“I was looking more at defense and I was a little bit disappointed in our defense. Defensively, we need to get better, especially on the perimeter and in transition defense. They (Eastern) did a nice job spotting up in transition.”
Eastern went 8-of-23 from long range and UNM went 2-of-13. “I told them before the game that we are not a 3-point shooting team,” said Sanchez.
Said Owens: “Maybe we had some first-game jitters. Hopefully, we can learn from our mistakes today and go to Chicago with our heads up.”
The Lobos came out of the break with a 33-29 lead, but had trouble pulling away from the Zias. At the 11:42 media stop, UNM had pulled out of a 41-39 lead into a 44-39 lead. The Lobos’ advantage was still coming on offensive rebounding and buckets in the paint.
The Lobos finally pulled into a 52-42 lead and rode that gap into the 61-49 final.
First Half: New Mexico 33, Eastern New Mexico 29
The Lobos had a good shooting first half at 40.6 percent, but Eastern was better at 45 percent. The Zias had the edge from 3-point range going 5-of-10 while UNM was 2-of-12.
The Lobos had a chance to use the free-throw line to extend their lead, but the Lobos shot 5-of-13 and actually lost the point battle there as Eastern went 6-of-8 from the line. The Lobos got off 32 shots to 20 for Eastern which hurt itself with 12 turnovers. UNM had five turnovers in the half and came up with seven steals.
Eastern’s Tori Tucker led all scorers with 15 points, going 5-of-7 from the field. The Lobos were paced by Alexa Chavez with eight points and Khadijah Shumpert with seven boards. UNM won the board battle 19-16 with 10 offensive boards.
The Zias controlled the scoreboard early before UNM pulled into an 8-8 tie. Eastern went up 14-13, but UNM claimed the lead at 16-14 when Mitchell knocked down a trey just beating the shot clock. Laneah Bryan hit another trey and the Lobos had their biggest lead at that point of the game, 19-14.
The Lobo stretched their lead to 31-21 before the Zias made a charge down the stretch to form the 33-29 halftime count.