Lobos geared up for showdown in Boise
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 23-4 (13-3 MW) |
BOISE STATE BRONCOS 23-4 (14-2 MW) |
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Monday, March 4 | 7 p.m. |
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Tipping Off
All eyes in the Mountain West women’s basketball world will be on Boise, Idaho as the University of New Mexico and Boise State University are slated to square off for the first and only time this regular season. Both teams will enter the early March clash with impressive 23-4 records overall. In terms of league play, the two combine for 27 wins against just five losses with Boise State holding just a one-game lead over the Lobos in the MW standings at 14-2.
With this being the only scheduled meeting between the Lobos and Broncos, the stakes from the outcome are extremely high for both team. With one more regular season game after Monday’s contest, a win for Boise State would clinch an out-right championship for the Broncos. Conversely, a win for the Lobos would give them the tiebreaker over Boise State and position UNM heading into the regular season finale against Wyoming for their first regular season conference title since 2004-05.
Adding to the excitement heading into the game is the fact that the Lobos and Broncos are also the top-two scoring teams in the league at 77.0 ppg and 75.0 ppg, respectively. The Lobos have three players in double-figures led by Jaisa Nunn at 17.0 ppg. The Broncos have a pair of scorers in double digits and are led by Bradey Hodgins at 12.7 ppg.
Lobos Distribute & Shoot Well at CSU
In the game against Colorado State, the Lobos employed an all-around team effort and particularly shined in distributing the ball and shooting from long range. For the third-straight game and fifth time this season, the Lobos had at least 20 assists, ending with 23. The Lobos also buried 12 three-pointers for the second-straight time to tie their season-high in that category.
On the assist front, Jaedyn De La Cerda, Jayla Everett and Aisia Robertson all had at least six dimes with Everett’s seven pacing the team. From three-point range, the Lobos had four players with
multiple makes from distance. Everett, Robertson and Ahlise Hurst combined for nine of the makes as each had a trio of trifectas against the Rams.
Lobos Top Century Mark in Rout of SJSU
Scoring records of any kind were not safe in the Lobos game against San Jose State. The Lobos would beat the Spartans 110-72 and the 110 points set an overall program record for points in a game. The previous record was 107 set last year against Northern New Mexico. It was the first time this season that the Lobos had scored 90 or more points in a game. A year ago, that mark was achieved 10 times
De La Cerda Sets Bench Scoring Record
In the game against SJSU, sophomore Jaedyn De La Cerda set a single-game record for most points off the bench with 31. The previous mark was 30 by Jordan Adams against Utah (Feb. 3, 2000). Fueling De La Cerda’s record was the three-ball as she hit seven in the game. The seven makes ties for four-most in a game
20-20 Vision
With their win against San Jose State on February 13, the Lobos have reached the 20-win mark for the second-straight season. It is the first consecutive 20-win campaigns for the program since 2007-08 – 2008-09. It is also the eighth time in the 11-year coaching career for Mike Bradbury that his team has won at least 20 games in a season.
#PackingThePit
Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit is one of the legendary venues for Division I college basketball in the country, not just for men’s but also for women’s. In the 20th year of the Mountain West, the UNM women’s basketball team has led the league and ranked in the Top-20 nationally in attendance each year. The 2018-19 season has been no different. Currently, the Lobos are the top drawing team in the league and rank 14th nationally at average of 5,201 fans a game. During a two-game stretch against Fresno State and Utah State, the Lobos brought in a total of 14,384 fans. The first of those games saw 8,068 fans and was their highest attendance since 2015.
Lobos Loading up on MW Player of Week
Earlier this season, the Lobos had a stranglehold on Mountain West Player of the Week as three out of the first four weeks were Lobos that earned the award. Additionally, the awards came in succession beginning with Jaisa Nunn (11/19). Aisia Robertson (11/26) followed the next week and Ahlise Hurst (12/3) capped the three-week run. It was the second time in as many seasons that the Lobos had three-consecutive MW Player of the Week honors.
UNM did not receive another weekly honor the next seven weeks, but freshman Jayla Everett became the fourth Lobo to earn MW Player of the Week for the final week of January. A week after that,
Nunn repeated as league player of the week, giving the Lobos five this season.
Balanced Scoring
The Lobos have played 27 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 five times this year. The first two instances were accomplished by Aisia Robertson while the last three have been done by Jaisa Nunn.
Assists by Aisia
In 27 games, redshirt junior Aisia Robertson has been an assist machine. With 187 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. 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 60 total blocked shots is currently 35th in DI, while her 2.2 blocks per game is 31st in the country. As a team, the Lobos are fifth 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 7th with 1,489 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 2nd with 896. 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. Once she gets beyond 900 rebounds, Nunn will be the only Lobo in program history to achieve that and just the 6th in MW history as well.