New Mexico Lobos Women’s Basketball – On The Mountain West Road
Colorado State 44, New Mexico 38
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
The defense was pretty good and probably good enough to give Yvonne Sanchez’s University of New Mexico women’s baskedtball team a Mountain West breakthrough win at Colorado State.
The Lobos held the Rams to 34 percent shooting and only two 3-pointers in 13 attempts.
But the New Mexico offense did not snap, crackle or pop and the Lobos were without their starting post, Khadijah Shumpert, back in Albuquerque nursing an ankle injury. That combination helped the Lobos drop a 44-38 MW game Saturday in Fort Collins, Colo.
“I will credit our defense,” Sanchez said. “That’s a great defensive stand. We did the work we needed to do on the defensive end. For a team that likes to shoot the (3-pointer), to give them only two is pretty good. But we had a tough game shooting-wise.
“Without Khadijah, it hurt because we did not have an inside presence.”
The Lobos shot 25 percent from the floor – 14-of-56. Lobo Bryce Owens scored 11 points and Antiesha Brown reached double figures with 10 points. But even in a low-scoring run on the Moby Arena floor, Sanchez was not happy with Brown’s total.
“Tiesh has to get better,” said Sanchez. “Ten (points) is unacceptable and she accepts that, too. She had good looks and she has to make shots. We have to get tougher and we have to get tougher down low.”
The Lobos trailed by as many as nine points in the second half before charging from a 36-27 deficit into a 36-all tie at 4:55. The Lobos scored only two points the rest of the way in while CSU did just enough to pull into the win. The loss dropped the4-9 Lobos to 0-2 in the MW race.
“We fouled. We let them drive and we fouled,” Sanchez said of UNM’s play down the stretch that helped CSU pull away. “That was the big difference because we were right there and playing well. But we just weren’t tough enough.
“We need to get wins. There is not a team in our conference that we can’t beat and there isn’t a team in the conference that can’t beat us, if we don’t play well.
“I think we’re good, but we have to show it. I’m tired of the lip service. Action speaks louder than words.”
The Lobos still had a chance to leave Fort Collins with a win. An Owens’ jumper at 2:22 pulled UNM to 41-38. UNM was down by that count when Erin Gustavsson missed inside, but Wells got the rebound for CSU. The Rams worked that second possession into a jumper by Ellen Nystrom and CSU (9-4, 1-1 MW) had a five-point lead with 50.5 seconds to play.
UNM needed to score in a hurry. Brown turned the ball over with 42 seconds that cost the Lobos a single free throw at the other end (44-38) and also cost the Lobos valuable time on the game clock.
UNM’s Brea Mitchell missed a 3-pointer with 23 seconds to play and CSU milked the clock down into the six-point win.
“I thought Bryce played well and Alexa (Chavez) played well,” said Sanchez. “But nice isn’t good enough and close isn’t good enough. We have to keep working hard. We have two games at home (at WisePies Arena) now and we have to get better.
“We played two of the best teams in the conference on the road to open up, but that was the hand we were dealt. We’ll watch the tape, study it and do what we need to do to get wins.”