Women's basketball on the road at Utah State
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 16-2 (6-1 MW) |
UTAH STATE AGGIES 10-7 (5-1 MW) |
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Saturday, January 26 | 2 p.m. |
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Tipping Off
Coming off of their second overtime game and win of the season as they knocked off UNLV at home this past Wednesday, the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team is set to hit the road and take on Utah State this Saturday in Logan. The matchup with the Aggies will be a marquee early conference season contest as both teams are one game back in the loss column to league-leading Boise State, who is the lone unbeaten team in the Mountain West at 6-0.
The Aggies are off to a 5-1 start to league play and have won their last three games. This Saturday will be the Aggies’ first action in a week as they had the bye this past Wednesday. The Lobos will enter the game with a 6-1 mark in the MW. UNM is also riding a winning streak as they have won four-straight. During the last three games of the streak, the Lobos have won by a total of 14 points.
Statistically, Utah State enters with the top scoring defense in the MW as they are limiting their opponents to 57.8 ppg. Conversely, the Lobos have the second-highest scoring offense in the league at 76.2 ppg. Offensively, the Aggies are averaging 63.8 ppg and have one player in double figures with Shannon Dufficy. Dufficy’s scoring average of 16.2 ppg is second in the league and she also leads the MW in rebounding at 10.3 rpg
Overtime Thriller against UNLV
In their most-recent game, the Lobos avenged their first conference loss of the season as they knocked off UNLV in overtime inside The Pit. The game was forced into OT as the Lady Rebels banked in a long distance three-pointer with just over three seconds left in regulation. In the extra period, play remained tight and with 5.3 seconds to go, Jaisa Nunn scored the game-winning bucket and converted an and-one opportunity to give the Lobos an 80-77 win.
Winning at Wyoming
Having lost the last six meetings against Wyoming, the Lobos flipped the script on the Cowgirls and ended that streak with a thrilling 78-75 win on the road this past Saturday. It was the first win overall against the Cowgirls for head coach Mike Bradbury, and it was also the first win in Laramie for the program since the 2014-15 season. In coming away with the win, the Lobos recorded their second-highest overall field goal percentage and logged their best three-point percentage of the season against the Cowgirls. Redshirt junior guard Aisia Robertson was a key cog in the win as she went on a late personal 7-0 run that gave the Lobos a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The loss for the Cowgirls was the first at home this season.
Balanced Scoring
The Lobos have played 18 games this season and have shown that their offensive production can come from a number of different places on any given game. Thus far, the Lobos have had six different leading scorers. Two of those have been efforts off the bench by Jaedyn De La Cerda and Madi Washington. An even more impressive note on the balanced scoring is the fact that the Lobos have had the same leading scorer in consecutive games just twice this year. Each time it has been Aisia Robertson (vs. NMSU (23 pts), 12-1-18; UTEP (20 pts), 12-5-18 & vs. San Diego St. (19 pts, 1/16/19; at Wyoming (24 pts), 1/19/19).
Assists by Aisia
In 18 games, redshirt junior Aisia Robertson has been an assist machine. With 132 total assists currently, Robertson has not had fewer than four dimes in a game, and against Oklahoma, Robertson
set a new single-game record with 16 assists. Her assists per game are currently fifth in NCAA DI while her total assists are also ranked fifth.
Block Party Hosted By McClure
Length and athleticism were projected to be a newfound strength of the 2018-19 Lobos and thus far, senior transfer Nike McClure has exemplified that on the court. In the season-opener against Texas State, McClure blocked six shots on her own as the Lobos would end the night with a new school-record 16. Against Oklahoma, McClure swatted nine shot attempts by the Sooners to set a new single-game high for herself as a Lobo. McClure’s 50 total blocked shots is currently eighth in DI, while her 2.8 blocks per game is 11th in the country. As a team, the Lobos are second in the country in blocked shots per game.
Nunn’s Climb Up the All-Time Scoring List
Senior center Jaisa Nunn became the 22nd player in school history to score 1,000-career points at the end of her junior season. She ended that year 19th on the all-time scoring list. In her senior season, Nunn has the chance to climb the ranks even higher. She is currently 9th with 1,306 points.
Cleaning the Glass
Already a 1,000-point career scorer and climbing up the all-time ranks at UNM, Jaisa Nunn is also climbing the all-time list for rebounding at UNM. The program record for the most rebounds in a career is 982 held by Carol Moreland. Nunn currently ranks 3rd with 806. Now that she has eclipsed 800 rebounds, Nunn is one of three players all-time with over 1,000-career points and 800-career rebounds.
Back-2-back-2-back MW PoW
For the second time in as many seasons, the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team has had three-straight Mountain West Player of the Week honorees. Last season, the Lobos were the first to achieve such as feat since San Diego State did in 2008-09 as Cherise Beynon, Jaisa Nunn, and Tesha Buck claimed the first three weekly conference awards.
This year, Nunn started the run of MW Player of the Week honors as she had a monster double-double in UNM’s 72-65 win over Hartford. In that game, Nunn scored 32 points and hauled in 11 rebounds. A week later, Aisia Robertson matched that double-double and even added to it by posting a triple-double in the Lobos’ 89-84 double OT win at Houston. In that game, Robertson scored 28 points and had 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Most-recently, Ahlise Hurst garnered the award as she averaged 25.0 ppg and buried 12 three-pointers in UNM’s home wins against Oklahoma and New Mexico State. In the game against the Sooners, Hurst exploded for 39 points to set a new UNM and MW record for most points scored in a game by a freshman.
Hurst Sets Freshman Scoring Record
In just her fifth collegiate game and making her second start as a Lobo, true freshman Ahlise Hurst etched her name in the UNM and Mountain West women’s basketball record books against Oklahoma has she set a new freshman record for points in a game with 39. The previous record was 35 points by Yvonne McKinnon against Adams State in 1982.
Hurst, who had been averaging 5.8 ppg heading into the contest, heated up quickly as she surpassed her previous single-game high in scoring in just the first quarter as she had 12 points. For the game Hurst’s 39 points came on 14-of-24 shooting overall and 9-of-17 from three-point range.
Her nine three’s are the second-most makes from long distance in a game in school history.
3-x-1
In UNM’s road game at Houston, redshirt junior point guard Aisia Robertson did something only three other Lobo women’s basketball players have done, and that’s post a triple-double in a game. It was the seventh overall in program history and the first in the career of Robertson. Former players Cherise Beynon (3 times), Carol Moreland (twice) and Jean Rostermundt account for the other six
instances.