New Mexico Lobos Women’s Basketball – In WisePies Arena/ThePit
Sunday: New Mexico 72, UTEP Miners 57
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
In looking for a way to notch their second victory of the young season, the New Mexico Lobos found a solid formula: shoot well, take care of the basketball.
And hustle like heck.
The Lobos shot 47.3 percent and had only 11 turnovers Sunday in The Pit in a smooth 72-57 win over the UTEP Miners. The win raises UNM’s record to 2-7 on the year.
“It was a complete team effort,” said Lobo Coach Yvonne Sanchez. “These guys stayed focused. We stayed positive. I’m really, really proud of them.
“You want to win some of those hustle stats. Those will get you wins. We were diving on the floor and we have to continue to work our tails off.”
The Lobos outscored UTEP 8-to-0 on fast-break points and beat UTEP 30-to-20 in the paint. UNM had 10 steals and UTEP had five. The Lobos had 15 assists – a season high – but assists also come when you shoot well.
“We worked on it (zone offense),” said Sanchez. “We had to get better and we had to get smarter. After New Mexico State, we were obviously frustrated. The first question that came out of our mouths as a staff was, ‘what can we do better as a staff?’ We decided we needed to hang our hat on defense. That’s what we want to do.”
The Miners shot 35.4 percent from the floor and 28.6 percent from 3-point range.
The Lobos had three players in double figures with Antiesha Brown leading the way with 18 points. Khadijah Shumpert muscled for 16 more inside and Bryce Owens added 10 points. Cherise Beynon scored eight and Josie Greenwood had seven points. Shumpert and Brown combined to go 11-of-18 from the field.
“We have good shooters and we have confident shooters,” said Sanchez. “(In practice) we limited our shooting drills and made it more game-like. We went out there and ran five-on-five.”
The Lobos shot 47.3 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent from the 3-point line. Another big key for the Lobos was giving up only 11 turnovers while taking 19 miscues from the Miners. The Lobos shot 15-of-24 from the foul line, but cooled off at the stripe toward the end of the game. UTEP went 19-of-24.
“For us, it’s one game at a time, one possession at a time,” said Sanchez. “Nothing is going to come easy. I told some people we have to have a breakout game and this may have been it.”
The Lobos shot it well all day. With 13:28 to play, UNM was up 54-39 shooting 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from 3-point range and 81.8 percent from the free-throw line. The Lobos still were up by 15 points at 7:52 – 60-45.
The Lobos continued to pull away and a 65-47 UNM lead had the visitors from El Paso in an 18-point hole. The Miners had a lot of climbing to do – and couldn’t do it. UNM coasted into the 72-57 final.
First Half: New Mexico 39, UTEP 28
The Lobos took control of the scoreboard early and used two free throws by Shumpert to go up 20-11 at the 11:19 mark. The Miners cut that gap to 22-18, but UNM used points by Greenwood and Brown to go up 27-18. The Lobos were back to their biggest lead of the half (up to that point). UNM had no turnovers going into a media timeout at 7:53.
The Miners came out in a trapping press. UTEP needed to force some Lobo turnovers and quit turning it over. The Lobos first turnover of the half came at the 13:03 mark, unforced. It didn’t hurt the Lobos and it didn’t change momentum. UNM raced to a 36-20 lead off a driving layup by Brown. UTEP used a little run to close to 39-28 at the half.