ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A furious and exciting 11-1 Lobo comeback run in the final 3:59 fell short on Tuesday night as The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team (3-5) dropped a tough contest against the visiting Minnesota Golden Gophers (6-3) at WisePies Arena – The Pit. Junior Cherise Beynon registered her third double-double of the season tallying 12 points and 14 assists on the night.
The last time a Lobo notched a double-double in points and assists was on Jan. 18, 2003 when Mandi Moore put up 16 points and 12 assists vs. Air Force. Beynon now ranks second in the Mountain West in double-doubles on the season.
Senior Richelle van der Keijl led the Lobos with 16 points and nine rebounds for her sixth double-digit game. The third Lobo to score in double-figures was junior Jayda Bovero who totaled 10 points and tied her career-high three three-pointers on the night.
Jayda Bovera is on a roll with back to back threes! Lobos are back in the lead 34-33 #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/xTwceJS14C
— New Mexico Lobos (@UNMLOBOS) December 7, 2016
(For more highlights, check out the main UNMLobos Twitter account HERE)
“…One thing I’ll say is that I thought we did do well, as poorly as we shot (the ball), we continued to defend them. They are really good offensively and I thought we defended them pretty good, we rebounded it pretty good. We just couldn’t make enough shots.”
The Lobos entered the fourth quarter down by 12, 62-50, after having led by as many as seven earlier in the game and the outcome looked bleak. After the teams went into the locker room with UNM down by just three, 37-34, the Golden Gophers came out of the break on fire outshooting UNM 25-16 in the third for the advantage.
Despite the fact that the 12-point margin was just one point off from the largest lead Minnesota had had to that point, the Lobos fought back in the fourth quarter. Both teams had scored a combined total of just one point (Minnesota) through nearly three minutes of play in the fourth before UNM began chipping away at the Gopher lead.
Beynon scored the first six points of the quarter for UNM before freshman Mykiel Burleson drilled her only three-pointer of the day to cut the Minnesota lead to single digits (9) with 1:28 left. The Lobos called a timeout, after which two-straight Lobo steals (sophomore Jaisa Nunn and Beynon) resulted in back-to-back fast-break layups to make it a five-point game, 68-63 with 43 seconds left.
Nunn grabbed a defensive board with 34 seconds on the clock that yielded the third-straight fast-break layup for UNM (Lapeyrolerie) to make it a three-point game, 65-68 with 24 seconds on the clock. UNM had to resort to the foul game in the final seconds to stop the clock and Minnesota scored one free throw for the 69-65 final.
Overall, Minnesota outshot UNM 38.2 percent to 34.6 percent and out-rebounded the Lobos 48-47. The Lobos are now 0-4 when their opponent out-rebounds them. Once again the UNM defense shined as the Lobos kept a team that averages 80.1 points per game to less than 70. The Lobos scored 44 points in the paint compared to just 28 for the Golden Gophers and collected 20 points off of turnovers compared to just 13 for Minnesota.
UNM returns to action for its third home game of a four-home-contest stretch on Sunday, December 6 against UTEP at WisePies Arena – The Pit at 2 p.m.