Lobos come away with thrilling 80-77 overtime win over UNLV
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Two weeks ago to the day, the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team suffered their first loss in conference play at UNLV. On Wednesday night, the Lobos evened up the season series with the Lady Rebels and snapped what was a six-game skid against UNLV thanks to a thrilling 80-77 win in front of over 5,000 fans inside Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit.
After trailing by seven points on a pair of occasions early in the first quarter, the Lobos (16-2, 6-1 MW) got their offense on track and eventually took their first lead in the game at the 3:49 mark of the quarter as Jayla Everett buried her second trifecta. The Lobos would not trail any point in regulation and led by as many as 15 points late in the third quarter, but the game found its way to overtime thanks to a banked-in deep three-pointer by preseason All-Mountain West player Katie Powell for UNLV with three seconds to play.
In overtime, play remained razor thin as the two teams traded points. UNM scored the first basket of the extra period on a layup by Ahlise Hurst. A pair of free throws on the other end by UNLV’s Kavionnia Brown knotted the game at 71-all. Aisia Robertson knocked down a mid-range jumper seconds later to give the Lobos another two-point lead.
With 3:25 on the clock, the Lady Rebels (5-12, 3-3 MW) grabbed their first lead since back in the first quarter as Justice Ethridge hit a moving three-pointer from the wing, giving UNLV a 74-73 lead. About a minute later, Jaisa Nunn worked hard inside and putback her own miss to flip the one-point advantage to the Lobos. That offensive rebound was one of 12 total for Nunn, who needed six boards coming into the game to become one of just three players in school history with 1,000 or more career points and 800 or more career rebounds.
That lead would reach three points with just under a minute to go for the Lobos as Robertson made good on a pair of clutch free throw attempts. With the game still just a possession contest, UNLV tied it again on a three-pointer, this time from Brown and with more time as 31.3 seconds showed on the clock. Prior the fourth quarter, UNLV was just 1-of-10 from three-point range, but in the fourth quarter and overtime, the Lady Rebels were 7-of-10.
With just over an entire shot clock’s worth of time to work with, the Lobos inbounded and got the ball across the timeline with Robertson. As time ticked off, UNM began to work its offense, and with 5.4 seconds, it was Robertson who found Nunn in perfect position inside for the go-ahead layup. Nunn was also fouled on the play and went to the line where she converted the and-one opportunity, giving the Lobos an 80-77 lead.
That would be the final score of the game as on the ensuing Lady Rebel possession, solid defense by the Lobos kept UNLV from getting off a shot before time expired.
Three players scored in double figures for the Lobos with Nunn and Everett each scoring over 20 points. Nunn would end with 26 points while Everett had 23. Robertson was the other Lobo in double figures with 14. Robertson also fell one assist shy of a double-double, while Nunn notched her eighth double-double of the season.
The Lobos will now prepare to hit the road this Saturday and take on Utah State. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 2 p.m. (MT).