ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – After suffering a loss to New Mexico State on Tuesday, the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team bounced back with a strong 84-71 win over Sacramento State Saturday afternoon in WisePies Arena.
“I’m pretty proud of that team,” said head coach Yvonne Sanchez. “Sometimes you have a game like that so you can get to this point. You don’t want a game like that. If it is going to make you better and help you reach your goals as a team, then I’ll take it. I couldn’t be prouder of this team.”
The Lobos were led by senior Khadijah Shumpert, who recorded her first double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds. She was 9-for-13 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free throw line to go along with three assists and one steal in 30 minutes.
The Lobos came out with more energy to start the game Saturday as they started out with 10-6 lead with eight of those points coming from freshman Jannon Otto and Shumpert. Sac State took advantage of Lobo fouls as they came back within four points. The Lobos used their inside game to tally 18 points in the paint and head to the second quarter with a 25-16 lead.
The Hornets began to put more pressure on the Lobos with a full court press strategy and began to shoot the ball a little bit better, going from 20 percent to 30 percent. New Mexico figured out how to break their press and move the ball up the floor to score a combined 10 points off fastbreaks and in the paint. The two teams went scoreless in the final 2:46 seconds for the Lobos to take a 39-33 lead into the locker room.
Three straight layups from Shumpert gave the Lobos a 45-38 lead in the first two and half minutes of the third period. The Lobos kept finding the posts down low as well as taking advantage of free throws in the final minutes of the quarter to take a 63-54 lead into the final quarter.
New Mexico kept up its offense, taking its largest lead of 18 with 4:29 left to play. The Hornets came within 10 with 2:38 to play but two made free throws from Cherise Beynon put the Lobos back up 12. Sac State went on a 4-0 run to come within eight but the Lobos finished it off with a layup from Shumpert and two good free throws from senior Bryce Owens.
The Lobos saw much improvement in their free throw shooting, going 12-for-16 (75 percent). They shot 57 percent from the field (34-60) and 50 percent from three-point range (4-8). They outrebounded the Hornets (who were number one in the nation last season rebounds) 43-36 and finished with 56 points in the paint to Sac State’s 18.
The Lobos had 24 assists on the game with a career-high nine coming from Beynon. She finished with 13 points while Otto finished in double digits for the first time with 16 points, second highest on the team. Owens finished with 15 and five assists. Sophomore Laneah Bryan, Shumpert and junior Kianna Keller combined for eight assists.
Sacramento State shot 31 percent from the field, 25 percent from three-point range, jacking up 47 attempts, and 65 percent from the free throw line.
The Lobos (2-1) will look to continue their winning momentum next week as they take on Nicholls State Tuesday night at 7 p.m. before hosting their annual UNM Thanksgiving Tournament Nov. 27 and 28. UNM has changed the times of the games for the tournament. Visit GoLobos.com for more information.