New Mexico Lobos Women’s Basketball – In WisePies Arena/ThePit
When/Who: 2 p.m., Sunday – UTEP (3-3) at New Mexico (1-7)
On The Air: 610-AM with Joe Behrend
GoLobos.com: Live streaming, Game Story, Complete State, LoboTV, Quotes
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Really, it has come down to this: Yvonne Sanchez’s Lobos need to figure out how to win a basketball game. But what’s the answer?
Does Antiesha Brown, hard to stop on offense, need to start dominating a game earlier? Probably.
Does Khadijah Shumpert need to quit making reaching fouls so she can be on the court more for her teammates? Definitely.
Does Bryce Owens need to be more aggressive with her stop-and-pop jumpers? Yeah, that would help.
But a whole lot of other Lobos need to “up” their game in a hurry – like now. The UTEP Miners hit WisePies Arena at 2 p.m., Sunday, but the Mountain West wars open Dec. 31 with a road game at Fresno State.
“I don’t want to make any excuses,” said Sanchez. “I just know that hopefully we can put our (Top 20) schedule behind us and now go, ‘OK, everybody on our schedule is not going to be in the Top 20.’
“We have an opportunity with everybody on our schedule. I think they’ve (Lobos) approached it that way before we even talked to them, so it was nice to see them do that. I like our group. We’ve got a chance to turn things around.”
UTEP is a chance for a new beginning, but the Lobos thought the same thing about a New Mexico State team that shocked UNM 70-59 in Las Cruces last week. The Aggies were beatable. The Miners are beatable. But so are the 1-7 Lobos.
Sanchez says she does not feel pressure in being 1-7. “No, not at all. Why would you,” she said. “What I can control is coming in every day and coaching and being with these players and working hard and that’s what we are doing.”
The Miners step into The Pit with a 3-3 mark and are rebuilding a bit from the 29-8 team of 2013-14. The Miners were WNIT runners-up last year. They have some holes to fill having lost three starters off the squad that went 5-1 in the WNIT.
Still, the Miners have shown they are a program and not just a flash-in-the-pan team.
UTEP has thrown out three consecutive 20-win seasons. They have reached 20 wins five times in the past eight years. The Miners bring back eight letterwinners to the court including starter Cameasha Turner.
“They’re athletic,” said Sanchez. “They’re a lot like us in terms of player by player. They’re a little bit more athletic, and have more shooters than we do. I think inside, we can do some really good things.
“They’ll play a zone so we’ll have to improve and that’s what’s hurt us. Zone defenses have really hurt us. The nice thing is we’re working on a lot of zone this week.”
The Aggies threw an aggressive zone defense at the Lobos and added a press that tried to trap near the midcourt stripe. The Lobos had 25 turnovers vs. the Aggies which pretty much negated a UNM rebounding edge of 41-to-25. UNM did not shoot badly at Cruces: 41.2 percent.
Sanchez expects the Miners to put pressure on the UNM ball handlers. The Lobos have committed 172 turnovers in eight games and have forced 112 turnovers in return.
“They’ll have a press, a half-court trap,” said Sanchez. “It’s a good program, a good team. It’s a little bit of a rivalry game and we haven’t played them in a year.”
The Lobos/Miners rivalry has a strong tradition in both football and basketball. The sharpest edge probably was created when Don Haskins stormed the sidelines for the UTEP men’s team. However, there is a good carryover of rivalry anytime Lobos and Miners meet. This is the 39th meeting between the women’s basketball programs. UNM holds a 24-14 edge, but the Miners have won three straight.
The Miners are coming off an 87-77 loss to Houston Baptist. They also beat Eastern New Mexico 84-49 – a team the Lobos beat 61-49 in exhibition.
The Lobos are led in scoring by Brown with a 14.5 average followed by Shumpert at 11.4. Owens is the next closest Lobo to double figures with an 8.1 average. Shumpert leads UNM in fouls committed with 33 followed by freshman Cherise Beynon with 25. Brown leads the team in turnovers with 30 followed by Beynon with 28.
UTEP is led by 5-foot-9 Cameasha Turner with a 15.7 scoring average. She also is the Miners’ top board player with a 6.2 rebounding average. She shoots 50.8 percent from the floor. Guard Sparkle Taylor has a 10.2 average and brings down 5.3 boards per game. The 5-10 Taylor shoots 49 percent from the field.
The 6-1 Irene Gari averages 7.8 points, but she scored 25 in the loss to Houston Baptist. UTEP also has 6-3 Marta Miscenko inside, an 8.8 scoring average from 5-7 Stacie Telles, and quick 5-7 Lulu McKinney coming off the bench. The Miners can go deep and keep their press fresh as they have 11 players averaging 15.3 minutes or more.
“It’s a great group. It’s a different team,” Sanchez says of her Lobos. “I don’t know how to describe it, but they’re a special team. But now we’ve got to step up and play.
“We know we can (play well), if we work hard, but we can’t look that far ahead. We’ve got UTEP next and after that I have no idea. That’s how we have to look at things.
“I’m pretty confident in this group; I really am. We have a 1-7 record, it’s tough to swallow for everybody, but we’re just not hanging our heads.”