SAN DIEGO, CALIF. — The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team dropped its season finale at San Diego State on Friday night by a final score of 63-51. Redshirt-junior Alex Lapeyrolerie carried the Lobo offense with 14 points, followed by senior Richelle van der Keijl who posted 10.
Regardless of the outcome of Friday’s game, the Lobos were slated to open the 2017 Mountain West Championships in the four-five seed game on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. PT (3:30 p.m. MT) in Las Vegas, Nev. Following the conclusion of all conference games Friday night, it is confirmed that the fifth-seeded Lobos will face fourth-seeded Boise State in the quarterfinals. UNM split with the Broncos this season, claiming a 75-68 victory at home on Jan. 18 before falling by a narrow two-points on Feb. 15 on the road.
Friday’s game at SDSU started with a 3-pointer off the hands of junior Cherise Beynon, but the Aztecs quickly came back and took a four-point lead. With 2:48 left on the clock in the first quarter, the home team had a five-point advantage, 15-10. The Lobos scored the next four points on a pair of baskets from van der Keijl to come within one, 15-14. It was then that one of the most memorable parts of the evening occurred.
Junior Laneah Bryan attempted a long three-pointer just before the quarter-ending buzzer and was fouled. It looked like the quarter would end with free throws but, after a lengthy official review, it was determined that the foul occurred with 1.2 seconds left on the clock. Bryan hit 2-of-3 from the charity stripe to put UNM up by one, 16-15. With almost no time on the clock, it looked as if the Lobos would take the quarter, but SDSU inbounded the ball under the basket and senior Ariell Bosstick launched a nearly impossible 3-point attempt from the top of the Aztecs’ own arc. The shot went in to put SDSU up 18-16 at the quarter break.
The Lobos were ignited in the second quarter, going 4-of-10 from behind the arc for 40.0 percent. UNM outscored the Aztecs 14-13 in large part due to three triples from Lapeyrolerie. She tallied 12 of UNM’s 14 points in the frame to make it a one-point game at the half, 31-30 SDSU.
In the third quarter, the Lobos began to struggle as SDSU came out of halftime with an 8-0 run to make it a nine-point game, 39-30. Eventually, the Aztecs outscored UNM 18-6 in the third quarter to get out to a commanding 49-36 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
New Mexico scored 15 points to 14 for SDSU in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.
Overall, UNM shot 29.0 percent from the field (18-62) compared to 35.0 percent (21-60) for SDSU. The Lobos were also outrebounded 46-39 on the night and committed the second-most fouls of the season at 18. SDSU went 15-of-18 from the free throw line while the Lobos tallied just 7-of-11.
New Mexico will take on Boise State on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. MT in Las Vegas, N.M. in the 2017 Mountain West Championship Quarterfinals. The winner of Tuesday’s matchup will take on the winner of game four, which will be between top-seeded Colorado State and the winner of the eight-nine seed game.