MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team went cold for a stretch in the third quarter and a late fourth-quarter rally came up short as the Lobos fell to Marquette 62-52 Wednesday at the Al McGuire Center in their final contest before Mountain West play.
New Mexico (4-6) trailed the Golden Eagles (9-2) 38-37 after an Alex Lapeyrolerie basket with 7:16 remaining in the third quarter. However, the Lobos went scoreless for a 5-minute, 48-second stretch to see their deficit grow to 47-37 on a trio of Marquette 3-pointers before Cherise Beynon ended the UNM drought with a bucket with 1:28 remaining to make it 47-39 – which was the score heading into the fourth.
The Golden Eagles increased their lead to 60-43 before Lapeyrolerie – who paced UNM with 14 points – scored with 4:07 remaining to ignite a 9-0 Lobo run capped by a Mykiel Burleson layup with 2:08 left in the contest to cut the Marquette advantage to 60-52.
But that’s as close as the Lobos got before falling in their first game in 10 days (defeated UTEP 79-66 on Dec. 11) since inclement weather didn’t allow Eastern Illinois to travel to play UNM in Albuquerque on Sunday, Dec. 18.
UNM trailed 22-17 after the opening quarter and were down 25-19 before an 8-0 Lobos run that was ignited by a Jaisa Nunn basket and capped with a Richelle van der Keijl turnaround jumper gave UNM its first lead of the contest at 27-25.
A Marquette 3-pointer put the Golden Eagles back in the lead briefly before Lapeyrolerie answered on the Lobos’ next possession with her own 3-pointer to give the Lobos a 30-28 advantage with 3:29 remaining in the second.
The Lobos led 33-32 with less than a minute to play before Marquette scored to take a 34-33 halftime lead – and UNM wouldn’t lead again in the contest.
To go along with Lapeyrolerie’s team-high 14 points for the Lobos, Nunn had 12 points and six rebounds, Beynon had nine points and a team-high four assists, van der Keijl had eight points, a team-high nine rebounds and two blocks and Kianna Keller led the Lobos with three blocks to go along with two steals and four rebounds.
The Lobos shot 34.4 percent from the field (21-for-61), 23.5 percent from 3-point range (4-for-17) and 46.2 percent from the free-throw line (6-for-13). UNM’s defense held Marquette to 32.4 percent shooting from the field (23-for-71). Marquette outrebounded the Lobos 53-39, including grabbing 16 offensive rebounds leading to 12 second-chance points (the Lobos had one second-chance point).
Up next for the Lobos is their Mountain West opener on the road Dec. 29 at Fresno State with an 8 p.m. (MT) tip scheduled.
Lobos fall to Marquette on the road, 62-52
