New Mexico Lobos Women’s Basketball – In WisePies Arena/The Pit
Wednesday: New Mexico 63, Boise State 50
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com.
You have to credit the New Mexico Lobos’ defense. It was pretty good. You have to credit the Boise State shot selection. It was pretty bad.
The combination produced a 27.4 shooting percentage for Boise State which greatly aided the Lobos in their convincing 63-50 Mountain West win Wednesday night in WisePies Arena.
You also have to credit Antiesha Brown with 16 points and Bryce Owens with 15 points. They were pretty sharp in front of the 6,591 fans, which came to join the Lobos in chase of a league title.
“Tiesha and Bryce really led us today,” said Lobo Coach Yvonne Sanchez. “I thought Bryce was terrific in pushing the tempo in the first half. She put them on their heels.”
The Lobos led by eight at the half and pretty much pulled away from the Broncos in the second half. UNM led 60-37 with 5:38 to go and cruised in for the win. UNM is 16-11 on the year and 12-4 in the Mountain West race.
It was the Lobos 11th straight win in The Pit and the 12 conference wins ties the program’s most wins in league action.
“To hold this team to 50 points is a phenomenal feat by our team,” said Sanchez. “I’m really proud of our kids.”
The Broncos played 14 players but did not have a single Bronco in double figures. Boise State’s starters combined to go 6-of-33 from the floor. Broise went 9-of-18 from the free-throw line. UNM outscored Boise 14-to-0 on fast-break points. UNM shot 41.9 percent from the field.
“We were beating them inside the paint in the first half, pretty good,” said Sanchez. “I told them (Lobo) we didn’t’ have to settle for jump shots. We got to the rim. We came off ball screens with authority.”
Said Owens of coming off screens: “We really wanted to emphasize that against Boise State and fortunately it worked out for us. This is a great team win for us. I think we played great as a team.”
The Lobos got double figures Brown and Owens, and Cherise Beynon and Khadijah Shumpert added eight apiece. Owens had four assists and Shumpert had nine rebounds with Beynon pulling down eight. Brown also added six boards, two assists and three steals.
The Lobos opened the second half up 33-25 and then pushed it to 41-29 going into the first media break at 15:57. UNM was 4-of-8 shooting and Boise State was still chilly shooting 22.2 percent at that point. Owens raced down the court to push in a layup that put UNM up 48-33. Boise State – down 15 in The Pit – burned a timeout.
The huddle didn’t help the Broncos much. At 8:16, a driving layup by Beynon handed UNM a 52-37 lead and again Boise State called timeout and went into a team meeting. It got worse for the visitors from Idaho. UNM’s Owens knocked down a trey at 7:36 and Boise State was in a huge 55-37 hole. An Alexa Chavez jumper made it an even dozen at 57-37.
That pretty much ended any chance of a Bronco rally. UNM cruised in for the convincing win.
“I really wanted to push it,” said Sanchez saying she thought Boise would tire down the stretch. “Then we wanted to run some clock because we know they can score in bunches.”
Said Beynon: “I think we came out with more energy and confidence. We came out with team effort.”
First Half: New Mexico 33, Boise State 25
The first five minutes of the half will not make any highlight reels on shooting. The teams went into the first media timeout with UNM up 2-1.
At the 11:39 break, the Lobos were up 10-7 and Boise State was had still not made a field goal inside the
3-point line. However, Boise had knocked down two treys. Boise State was 2-of-15 from the field shooting 13.3 percent The Lobos were a tad better at 31.3 percent – 5-of-16.
At the 7:22 media stop, UNM was up 18-17. Boise State had warmed up to 27.3 percent shooting and the Lobos were at 36.4 percent.
The Lobos then got into a little run and pulled out to 31-19. Boise State got three free throws at .07 to form the 33-25 halftime count — probably not a bad deficit for the Bronco to swallow since they shot 25.8 percent from the floor in the half. Boise went 8-of-31 from the field and UNM went 15-of-38 for a 39.5 shooting percentage.
The Broncos had 12 turnovers and UNM had six turnovers. The Lobos had seven steals in the half. Brown led UNM in scoring with nine points. The Bronco starters combined to shoot 3-of-21 from the floor.