LUBBOCK, TEXAS — Despite an extraordinary defensive effort by the Lobos, The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team (2-1) came up short against the Texas Tech Lady Raiders (2-1) on Sunday, falling by a score of 69-58 at the United Supermarkets Arena. The Lobos were led by freshman Mykiel Burleson who netted a career-high 22 points to lead all players.
Burleson was one of two Lobos to register double digits on the afternoon. Sophomore Jaisa Nunn registered 14 points and nine rebounds in a near double-double.
“I think we played hard, defensively we were really good, but we just couldn’t find a way to get enough rebounds,” UNM coach Mike Bradbury said. “That was really the difference in the game. We shot 37 uncontested, wide open (three-point) shots and made eight, so we have to make more shots and we have to get more rebounds.”
Despite the 11-point final margin, the Lobos and the Lady Raiders were in a tight race all game that included seven lead changes. The game was also tied 10 times.
The Lobos’ largest lead in the contest was six, which occurred twice at 28-22 and 40-34 in the second and third quarters, respectively. The Lady Raiders’ lead was never more than five until there was just 4:06 left on the clock in the fourth. With the Lobos up 53-51 with 6:05 left to play, Texas Tech went on a 16-7 run in the final minutes for the win.
Defensively, UNM did exceptional work in limiting the Lady Raiders’ leading scorer of the season, Recee’ Caldwell (33.0 points per game) to zero points throughout the first three quarters. Caldwell heated up in the fourth however as the Lobos ran out of steam, scoring all 12 of her points in the final 5:30 of the game.
The Lobos got on the board first in the first quarter in which the squads traded baskets. Nunn nailed her second three-pointer of her career in the frame to tie it 10-10 7:40 into the match. She hit her first career three in the Lobos’ last match against NMSU.
The teams kept the score close until midway through the second quarter when Burleson tied the game at 22-22 on a jump shot. Burleson was fouled on the shot and missed the free throw, but Nunn collected the rebound and put it back up to spark a Lobo run. UNM scored eight straight points over a span of 1:02 to take a 28-22 lead. Texas Tech responded with a 6-0 run of their own to go up 31-30 and after senior Kianna Keller netted a three, the teams went into the locker rooms with the Lobos leading 34-32.
Keller went 2-for-2 from behind the arc Sunday marking the first time in her career that she has scored more than one three in a game. In fact, Keller had registered just one three-pointer in her career, in her freshman season, prior to Sunday’s contest.
The third quarter showed much of the same, balanced effort and the Lady Raiders led 47-45 heading into the fourth quarter before Caldwell went off for 12 points to put the game away.
Overall, the Lobos shot 34.9 percent (29-of-83) from the field while Texas Tech was just 28.8 percent (23-of-80). Neither team shot above 25% from three-point range as UNM went 8-for-37 behind the arc (21.6 percent) and the Lady Raiders went 4-for-17 (23.5 percent). The Lobos also failed to shoot above 50 percent from the free throw line, going just 4-for-10 compared to 7-of-10 for Texas Tech.
UNM has limited all three of its regular-season opponents to less than 30 percent shooting this season.
The Lobos finished with an edge in turnovers, committing just six to the Lady Raiders’ 13.
New Mexico will return to action on Friday, Nov. 25 when it hosts Tulsa for a 7 p.m. matchup to kick off the 2016 Thanksgiving Tournament at WisePies Arena – The Pit. The Lobos will follow it up on Sunday against either BYU or Saint Joseph’s at 2:30 p.m.