SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Despite a school-record 41 points from Cherise Beynon, The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team fell to San Diego State 97-89 on Saturday afternoon at Viejas Arena.
The Lobos (16-5 overall, 4-4 Mountain West) led 69-66 when Beynon drove into the paint and scored within the first 15 seconds of the fourth quarter.
But San Diego State (9-9, 3-4) rattled off a 17-2 run over the next three minutes – capped by a McKynzie Fort jumper to give the Aztecs an 83-71 lead with 6:39 remaining in the contest.
UNM cut the lead down to four points with 2:21 left when Beynon again scored in the paint, but that’s as close as the Lobos would get as SDSU quickly answered and held off the Lobos – handing UNM its second loss in a row.
Beynon finished 17-for-31 from the field, 4-for-11 from 3-point range and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line to go along with eight assists, five rebounds and four steals. It’s the third time this season a Lobo has broken the school record for scoring – Jaisa Nunn did it against Marquette with 39 points and Tesha Buck scored 40 against Lamar. It’s the third time in Beynon’s career she’s scored 30-plus points.
2Q | Beynon with the steal and the 3-pointer to give the Lobos a four-point advantage on SDSU. #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/J7GJHXPgLV
— Lobo Women’s Basketball (@UNMLoboWBB) January 20, 2018
Alex Lapeyrolerie had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Lobos while Jaisa Nunn added 10 points.
UNM shot 44.6 percent from the field (33-for-74), including 9-for-27 from 3-point range (33.3 percent). However, the Lobos allowed SDSU to shoot 51.4 percent from the field (37-for-72), including 12-for-28 from 3-point range.
Fort led SDSU with 32 points to go along with nine rebounds and four assists while Naje Murray had a career-high 29 points – including seven 3-pointers.
UNM was outrebounded by the Aztecs 45-33 – though the Lobos led in second-chance points 10-8.
The Lobos don’t play against until next Saturday when they travel to take on Colorado State.