ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team battled tough and to the wire with 25th-ranked Colorado State but fell short 49-48 on Wednesday night in WisePies Arena. New Mexico drops to 14-12 overall and 7-8 in Mountain West action. Colorado State is now 25-1 overall and remains undefeated in conference play with a 15-0 record.
“It was two pretty good teams battling it out,” said head coach Yvonne Sanchez. “I told them before the game that as long as they give all they have and leave it all on the floor, I’ll live with any result. This was a gutsy performance from this crew and I’m proud of them.”
The game came right down to the wire between the Lobos and the Rams. With 1:34 left to play in the game, sophomore Cherise Beynon hit a three to bring the Lobos within three, 49-46. Forty-five seconds later, Beynon sank a two to bring the Lobos within one, 49-48 with 49 seconds left on the clock.
Defense was huge in the next 30 seconds, as the Lobos forced Colorado State to a shot clock violation, giving the Lobos the ball with 19 seconds left. The Lobos ran their drawn up play, giving Beynon the ball. She shot a jumper with eight seconds on the clock but bounced off the rim. The ball touched many hands but fell off a CSU player out-of-bounds with 3.2 seconds left on the clock.
The Lobos put together a play while the refs confirmed how much time was left on the clock. That play was to get the ball to senior Khadijah Shumpert. The ball went in from Beynon to Owens and back to Beynon. She threw it in to Shumpert, who shot from about four feet out, but it didn’t go in.
“We had five options on that last play,” said Sanchez “We read our options to see what we had, but the right person took the right shot. Khadijah has made that shot several times and that was the best option.”
The game started out with a lot of energy coming from the Lobos. They shot 50 percent in the first quarter to take a 16-8 lead over CSU. Good Lobo defense kept the Rams off balance as they shot only 20 percent in the first 10 minutes.
The Lobos went cold in the second quarter as they only scored seven points. They had a little over a four minute scoring drought from the 7:49 mark to the 3:31 mark when Beynon hit a three to take a 21-16 lead over the Rams. CSU hit four straight points to bring the score to 21-18. Beynon hit a two with 38 seconds left in the half to go up 23-18 but a last second two for the Rams brought them within three, 23-20. The 20 points for the Rams in the first half is the lowest they have scored in the first half this season.
Four lead changes happened in the third quarter but CSU came out on top with a 34-29 lead going into the fourth. Beynon picked up four points in the third and Shumpert picked up the other two of the six points scored by the Lobos.
Free throws were key for New Mexico in the fourth to get them back in the game, as they went down by as much as 12 at the 5:43 mark. Senior Bryce Owens and Shumpert hit two free throws a piece to bring the Lobos within 10. Beynon hit a three at 4:09 and Shumpert hit a free throw and a two to bring the score to 49-43 before Beynon hit her three to start the last minute run.
Beynon and Shumpert combined for 36 of the Lobos 48 points. Beynon finished with a game-high of 23 points. She was 8-for-21 from the field, 3-for-9 from the three and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Shumpert was 4-for-9 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free throw line to finish with 13 points.
Freshman Jaisa Nunn finished with four points but a team-high eight rebounds. Owens finished with six points while senior Alex Chavez scored two.
On the game, the Lobos shot 31 percent from the field to CSU’s 37 percent. The Lobos outshot the Rams 85 percent from the free throw line to CSU’s 67 percent.
The Lobos will look to the second round of Fresno State Saturday on the road. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. MT and will stream live on the Mountain West Network.