Women's basketball remains at home against SDSU
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 13-2 (3-1 MW) |
SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS 6-8 (1-2 MW) |
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Wednesday, January 16 | 7 p.m. |
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Tipping Off
After putting themselves back in the win column at home against Colorado State following their first loss in conference play this season at UNLV, the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team remains at home and turns their focus toward San Diego State.
The Aztecs will come into the game at 6-8 overall and 1-2 in Mountain West play. That lone conference win for SDSU came in their most-recent game as they beat Air Force at home, 70-61. Prior to that victory, the Aztecs had dropped four-straight. The Lobos will enter the Wednesday night affair at 13-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play. Last year, these two teams met just once and it was San Diego
State who came away with the win as they scored a season-high 97 points against the Lobos in Southern California. All-time, the Lobos lead the series 33-28, but the Aztecs are riding a two-game winning streak in the series.
Statistically, the Aztecs have the fifth-best scoring offense in the league at 66.7 points per game. Defensively, SDSU is allowing 67.4 ppg to rank ninth in the MW. The Lobos had been the top scoring team in the league, but have are currently now second at 76.3 ppg. Defensively, the Lobos are allowing 60.3 ppg and their +16.0 scoring margin continues to lead the conference.
Bounce Back Effort
Following their first loss in Mountain West play at UNLV, the UNM women’s basketball team did not dwell on that game and put forth a tremendous comeback effort at home against Colorado State this past Saturday. In the game against the Rams, the Lobos were able to get back to their winning ways thanks, in part, to success from long range. The Lobos would make their second-most three’s in a game this season as they knocked down 11. Leading the charge in the game was Madi Washington as she scored a team-high 15 points and made five three-pointers.
Setback in the Desert
UNLV has been a tough place to play at for the Lobos over the years with their last win coming back in 2013. Heading into their most-recent game at UNLV this past Wednesday, the Lobos were on an 11-game winning streak and unbeaten in the early portion of the Mountain West schedule. Ultimately, however, the Lobos suffered a setback as the Lady Rebels beat UNM 66-57. The 57 points for the Lobos were a season-low and their .328 field goal percentage in the game also represented a season-low.
Balanced Scoring
The Lobos have played 15 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 once this year (Aisia Robertson vs.NMSU (23 pts), 12-1-18; UTEP (20 pts), 12-5-18).
Assists by Aisia
In 15 games, redshirt junior Aisia Robertson has been an assist machine. With 113 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 ranked sixth.
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 and is blocking shots at a high clip. 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 44 total blocked shots is currently seventh in DI, while her 2.9 blocks per game is ninth in the country. As a team, the Lobos are third 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 10th with 1,250 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 5th with 782.
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