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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 0-0 (0-0 MW) |
TEXAS STATE BOBCATS 0-0 (0-0 Sun Belt) |
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Friday, November 9 | 7 p.m. |
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Tipping Off
The official start to the 2018-19 season is finally here and the games count! The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team is coming off of a breakout season a year ago in which they won 25 games and hosted the postseason WNIT. This year, the Lobos are riding the wave of last season with elevated excitement surrounding the program.
Fans will once more see Jaisa Nunn on the court as she is the lone returning starter, but other familiar faces return as well in Emily Lines, Jaedyn De La Cerda, Erica Moore, Antonia Anderson, and Madi Washington. Lobos fans will also get their first chance to see Aisia Robertson in action after she had to sit out the 2017-18 season transferring from Kansas.
Joining the returners are a group of talented newcomers. Of the eight newcomers, five are true freshmen and come heralded collectively as a class. Listed among the freshman class are Quincy Noble, Bre’Asiajah Mathews, Ahlise Hurst, Jayla Everett and Shaiquel McGruder. New to the team as transfers are Bride Kennedy-Hopoate (Iowa State), Najala Howell (UTEP) and Nike McClure (Washington State). McClure is the only one of those that will be eligible to play this season.
First up for the Lobos in 2018-19 is Texas State as part of the preseason WNIT. Last year, Texas State went 23-10 overall and advanced to the postseason WNIT, losing to Rice in the first round.
Lobos Picked 5th in Preseason MW Poll
The Mountain West recently released its annual preseason predicted order of finish ahead of the 2018-19 women’s basketball season and UNM was picked fifth behind preseason favorite Boise State, UNLV, Fresno State and Wyoming. The Lobos were just eight points back of Wyoming as UNM garnered 150 points in the rankings.
Nunn Named Preseason All-MW
Senior center Jaisa Nunn continues to solicit a lot of preseason attention and deservedly so based off of her stellar junior season. The most-recent accolade to come Nunn’s way is inclusion on the 2018-19 Preseason All-Mountain West Team.
UNM and UCONN
In their first exhibition game of the season against NCAA Division II perennial power Lubbock Christian, the University of New Mexico did something to LCU that only one of the Division I women’s basketball team has done; that’s beat the Lady Chaps in an exhibition. Prior to the Lobos’ 62-55 win over Lubbock Christian, LCU was 4-1 all-time in exhibition games versus DI opponents with the lone loss coming at the hands of UCONN in 2015.
Unblemished in Exhibition games
The Lobos went 2-0 in their exhibition games ahead of the start of the 2018-19 season. The Lobos are now 6-0 under head coach Mike Bradbury in exhibition games.
Shaking off First Game Jitters
While none of the stats count during exhibition games, there was marked improvement from the first exhibition game to the second for several newcomers for the Lobos. In the exhibition opener against Lubbock Christian, true freshmen, Jayla Everett, Ahlise Hurst, Bre’Asiajah Mathews, and Quincy Noble combined to score three (3) points on 1-of-23 shooting overall from the floor. In the second exhibition game, however, those same four combined to score 37 points on 14-of-21 shooting overall from the floor.
Nunn Like Her
Jaisa Nunn set herself apart from many of her counterparts last season as the rising senior was the lone player in the Mountain West to average a double (points/rebounds). In her junior campaign, Nunn was the team’s leading scorer and ranked second in the MW with 17.0 ppg while also topping the team and league in rebounds at 10.2 Already a 1,000-point career scorer, Nunn is within striking distance of becoming a 1,000-rebounder as well. The most rebounds in a career is 982 held by Carol Moreland. Nunn is already in the Top-10 all time at UNM, ranking 10th with 654.
Nunn Named to Lisa Leslie Watch List
Prior to the 2018-19 season tip-off, UNM senior Jaisa Nunn been named to the preseason watch list for the 2019 Lisa Leslie Award. Entering its second year and named after the three-time All-American and 1994 National Player of the Year, the Lisa Leslie Award recognizes the top centers in women’s NCAA Division I college basketball and is a part of the larger Naismith Starting 5, honoring the best players at each position. Nunn is among 20 to be on the initial watch list, and is one of two from the Mountain West.
Looking To Build off Last season
Last season was a breakout year for the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team under the direction of second-year head coach Mike Bradbury as the 2017-18 Lobos went 25-11. It was the only the second time in the last nine years that a UNM women’s basketball team won at least 20 games and the 25 wins tied for the second-most wins in a season in program history.
0 – 90+
Last season, the Lobos averaged 80.4 points per game to lead the Mountain West and rank 16th in DI. Prior to last year, the women’s basketball program at UNM had registered 37 games of scoring 90 or more points. In 2017-18 alone, the Lobos achieved that scoring feat 10 times and one three occasions went over the century mark.
Dialing Long Distance
The Lobos’ high-powered offense was spurred on last season by the 3-point shot. In that regard, UNM attempted the eighth-most 3-pointers in the country with 932 tries from long range. The Lobos
also buried them rather often as they made 319 to rank 11th in DI.