New Mexico Women’s Basketball — At The Maggie Dixon Classic
Sunday: De Paul Blue Demons 97, New Mexico Lobos 59
Saturday: Texas A&M 66, New Mexico 52; Friday: Texas Pan American 61, New Mexico 59
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
One good thing about the New Mexico Lobos’ upcoming game with powerful the Stanford Cardinal program is the Lobos probably won’t be surprised by anything the Cardinal do on the court.
Yvonne Sanchez’s Lobos saw just about everything you can see on the basketball court during three games at the Maggie Dixon Classic that produced a variety of styles and talent.
In a way, the worst style to face was the last style the Lobos saw as DePaul threw out an up-tempo pace and press that seemed to wear the Lobos down in a 97-59 fall to the Blue Demons.
“We were right in that game,” Sanchez said referring to UNM’s effort in the first 30 minutes. “DePaul is awfully good. They love to shoot treys and they love to play at a frantic pace.
“DePaul is probably the best pressing team I’ve seen in a long time and that was probably the best pressure we’ve ever seen. We just needed to take care of the ball a little bit better and obviously we didn’t.”
The Lobos were chased and swarmed into 39 turnovers and several ugly stretches of Lobo miscues and good Blue Demon shooting allowed DePaul to stretch a 45-40 lead into the final 38-point win. The Lobos ended the three-team tournament in last place at 0-3. UNM’s Khadijah Shumpert was named to the all-tournament team.
The Blue Demons’ style allows a team to win a number of statistical battles, while losing the war on the scoreboard. The Lobos outshot DePaul 46.2 percent to 45.5 percent. But DePaul made 11 more field goals while shooting 25 more times. UNM also won the glass battle 45-40. However, DePaul had 23 fewer turnovers.
“We went over it and over it,” Sanchez said of the DePaul press. “But it’s a young group and they threw the ball away too much. And we didn’t score in the final eight minutes. We had shots, but they didn’t go in. We have to find points somewhere.”
On Sunday, the Lobos were led in scoring by Cherise Beynon with 14 points which was equalled by Antiesha Brown. Beynon went 6-of-10 from the floor and Brown was 6-of-12. It was a career high for Beynon, a freshman.
“All and all, it was a terrific tournament for this group,” said Sanchez. “We grew a lot. But we have to dig in now and get better. Besides Khadijah, we didn’t get a lot of scoring from our posts. But this is the type of schedule we want to play and need to play.
“We played two of the top teams in the country (No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 18 DePaul). It was a tough day for them today (Sunday), but they are growing and they will get better. We’ll go back home and we’ll play hard again.”
Shumpert had eight points and six boards. Shumpert and Brown combined for 12 turnovers. DePaul had 18 steals and went 11-of-30 from 3-point range while the Lobos were 2-of-9.
The Lobos opened the second half down 10 points. The key for the Lobos wasn’t so much winning the first minutes of the half, but not to allow DePaul’s pace and pressure to wear down the Lobos as the minutes ticked away.
That’s DePaul’s plan. It gives a lot, if you can break its pressure and its press. However, the Blue Demons are counting on that pressure to eventually produce enough turnovers and open looks to find victory.
The Lobos, fresh from the halftime break, quickly cut their gap to 45-40 off a 3-pointer by Brown. DePaul then ran to a 55-44 with 15:19 to play. Owens cut the Lobos’ margin to 58-49 with a trey. The Blue Demons continued to pull away. At 12:16, a Lobo turnover convinced Sanchez to burn a timeout, down by 18. DePaul was on a 14-5 run.
The Blue Demons used a good stretch of pressure to force Lobo errors that turned into DePaul buckets. The Blue Demons went up by 26 points. They had outscored UNM by 21 points since that 45-40 count. DePaul continued to run to the 97-59 final.
Texas A&M, which beat DePaul on Friday, beat Texas Pan American 63-61 on Sunday to win the tournament.
First Half: DePaul 45, New Mexico 35
The Lobos shot well through most of the half and a 16-16 tie reflected UNM’s 54 percent shooting at that point. The Lobos were down 21-19 with 7:51 to play, but the relentless Blue Demons then took control of the scoreboard and pulled into the 10-point halftime lead. The Lobos had 21 first-half turnovers.