ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team (2-0) claimed its second victory in the Mike Bradbury era at WisePies Arena – The Pit on Tuesday evening with an 84-55 showing over intrastate rival New Mexico State (1-1) in the Lobos’ Nike N7 game. For the second-straight game, junior Alex Lapeyrolerie led four players in double figures while junior Cherise Beynon tied the program record for assists in a single game (15).
Beynon’s record ties former Lobo player – and current Lobo administrator – Janice Ruggiero (Branch) who accumulated 15 assists against Adams State on Jan. 23, 1987.
With the win, the Lobos earn an additional 1.5 points toward the Rio Grande Rivalry. UNM now leads 12.0-3.0. Check the scoreboard here. The win also marks the first time UNM has emerged victorious over the Aggies since Dec. 7, 2013. The Lobos are now up 48-25 in series history.
“I thought, from a defensive standpoint, that our kids were really disciplined, followed the plan and executed the plan,” head coach Mike Bradbury said. “I thought our post players were also really good offensively.
We won game number two. Rivalry is great and our fans love it, but for us, it was game number two. Our kids prepared and played well and tomorrow morning, we’re thinking about game number three.”
Coach Bradbury’s full post-game press conference:
Lapeyrolerie’s 22 points marks the second time she has scored over 20 points in as many games. Senior Richelle van der Keijl scored 19 while posting an outstanding 20 rebounds for the Lobos’ only double-double on the night. The last Lobo to grab 20 rebounds was Amanda Adamson vs. Texas Tech on Dec. 13, 2008.
Sophomore Jaisa Nunn also scored in double figures, tying her career-high 15 points while netting her first career three-pointer just before halftime to make it 30-23 Lobos. Junior Jayda Bovero was the fourth Lobo to net double figures, going 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-5 behind the arc. She tallied a career-high 13 points, surpassing her previous career-high of nine on Dec. 20, 2015 vs. NMSU.
The win marks the Lobos’ second-straight game in which they scored over 80 points and collected more than 50 rebounds.
UNM got out to a commanding lead early after another slow start that saw just six points for both teams in the first nearly three and a half minutes. By the first media timeout, with just over five minutes left in the half, the Lobos had gotten out to a 10-0 lead largely fueled by six points from freshman Mykiel Burleson. Burleson scored just two more points throughout the game but her early run was enough to get the Lobo offense fired up.
UNM extended its lead to 12-0 before NMSU scored its first basket with 4:13 left in the quarter. The basket sparked a 14-3 run for the Aggies that brought NMSU within one, 15-14 Lobos.
The Aggies got their first lead of the game when Zaire Williams netted a three, which was immediately answered by one from Bovero to send the lead back to UNM. After an NMSU layup that put UNM down by one, Bovero scored her second three-pointer in a row to put the Lobos up for good, 21-19. The Lobos did not relinquish the lead again for the remainder of the game.
It was Nunn who led UNM to close the second half with a 39-33 lead, scoring seven points while going 3-for-4 from the floor in the second quarter alone.
Lapeyrolerie came out of the locker room in the third putting up 10 points, followed by van der Keijl with eight to continue to boost the Lobo lead to 17, 69-52. In the fourth quarter, UNM held NMSU to just three points in 10 minutes while scoring 15 for the final 29-point advantage.
As a team, the Lobos shot 50.0 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from three-point range while NMSU was 27.7 percent from two and 20.7 percent from three. UNM held a strong edge in rebounds (57-45) assists (27-16) and blocks (11-3). Senior Kianna Keller led the Lobos with four blocks on the day.
“That was about as fun of an atmosphere that I think you can be in and I appreciate every fan that came out tonight,” Bradbury said.
The Lobos are set to return to action on Sunday, Nov. 20 for their first road game of the season at Texas Tech at 1 p.m. (MT).