New Mexico Lobos Women’s Basketball – In WisePies Arena/The Pit
Wednesday: New Mexico 67, Colorado State 40
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Lobo Coach Yvonne Sanchez was wrong. This was not a one or two possession game. More like a 14 possession game. The story on the scoreboard that told of a 67-40 Lobo romp was more than accurate. This was a Mountain West romp.
“It’s a statement game,” said Sanchez of the key WisePies Arena win over Colorado State. “We beat a team that is top in our conference and we won pretty decisively. It says a lot about our team.”
Said Lobo Antiesha Brown: “It just kind of happened. We knew we were good enough to beat Colorado State, but beating them by 27 is a basketball player’s dream. We kept pushing and didn’t let up.”
Sometimes the numbers on a scoreboard can distort a win – or a loss. There was not distortion Wednesday night in The Pit. The Lobos put the hammer down on Colorado State and did it at both ends of the court.
The Rams helped a bit by being ice cold from the field shooting 24.1 percent overall and 18.5 percent from 3-point range. UNM shot 49.1 percent with Cherise Beynon leading the way with 18 points, eight boards, four assists and three steals.
“She is just getting better and better,” said Sanchez of her talented freshman. “She is playing through her mistakes. She runs the floor well and she can catch and finish.
“But we have to keep on working hard and get better. We can’t rest on this.”
The Lobos might not rest on the effort they tossed out vs. CSU, but Sanchez said her team has earned the right to “enjoy” it.
“It’s a big, big win for us,” she said. “We haven’t done this in the past. Now, we are showing we can play with some of these (top) teams. We have the confidence that we can do it.”
Beynon was joined in double figures by Brown with 14 points and Bryce Owens with 11 points plus five assists. Khadijah Shumpert had nine points and six boards. UNM beat CSU 38-14 in the paint and 15-to-5 on fast-break points.
“I was just having a good night,” said Beynon of her career high 18 points.
Said Brown: “I think we were just hot tonight and when you are hot, you have to take advantage of that.”
UNM had won nine straight WisePies Arena games, six games in a row overall, and nine of ten.
“They are peaking and jelling at the right time,” Sanchez said of her Lobos who moved to 13-10 overall and 9-3 in Mountain West play. UNM is tied for second place in the MW race with CSU at 9-3. The Rams dropped to 17-6 overall. Fresno State was at the top with a 9-1 record going into the Bulldogs’ Wednesday night game with UNLV.
Colorado State had no players in double figures and no player with more than four rebounds. UNM won the board battle 41-to-28. CSU went 5-of-27 from 3-point range.”
“To give up only five threes against a team like this is almost unheard of,” said Sanchez. “That was our whole focus. We could not give up shots on the perimeter. We clamped down on it.”
The Lobos were up by 17 points at the half and went up by as many as 29 points. The Rams have staged a few impressive second-half rallies this season, but there was not one for CSU on Wednesday night.
“They are getting there,” Sanchez said of her team’s killer instinct. “I thought we had that tonight. I’d like a little more of that.”
Said Beynon: “It shows that we can beat a team by that much and not just have close game. As a team, it was a good job. Defense is the key to our game. We focused in on locking in on defense and doing what we do.”
First Half: New Mexico 36, Colorado State 19
The first half was a clinic of what to do and what not to do. The Lobos were doing the good stuff: playing team ball, mixing in a variety of inside-outside attacks while taking care of the basketball.
The Rams were jacking up threes.
CSU actually was having success on dribble-drive runs at the basket, but seemed more interested in putting on a 3-point shooting clinic. The Rams did not have much to teach in the first half going 2-of-12 from long range. They weren’t much better from the floor going 6-of-22 for 27.3 percent shooting.
The Lobos shot 55.2 percent after cooling down from 71.7 percent on their first seven shots (5-7). The Lobos got 11 first-half points from Beynon and nine from Owens. UNM won the board battle 16-to-12. UNM tossed in seven steals (three by Beynon) helping the Lobos outscore CSU 10-to-3 on fast-break points. UNM had 24 points in the paint to six points for CSU. UNM had 12 points off turnovers.
The Lobos played – and shot – well early in taking a 10-7 lead into the first media timeout at 15:01. UNM was shooting 71.4 percent at that mark: 5-of-7.
A follow shot by Kiana Keller handed UNM a 13-9 lead. UNM got a 3-pointer by Beynon and a 15-footer by Chavez to take an 18-10 lead into a break at the 11:30 mark. A jumper by Owens gave UNM a 22-15 gap at the 7:57 break. UNM was still sizzling from the floor shooting 62.5 percent. CSU was having trouble finding the hole and was hitting at 33.3 percent.
A driving layup by Owens handed the Lobos a 29-15 lead going into the 3:21 break. UNM had cooled slightly to 54.2 percent in shooting. The Rams were icy at 23.8 percent. A steal and a layup gave UNM a 31-17 cushion heading into the final two minutes of play.
Brown hit a trey from the baseline in front of the CSU bench and Shumpert scored at the buzzer on a nifty pass by Owens to help UNM establish the 17-point halftime bulge.