Lobos Host NMSU Friday Night to Start Home-and-Home Weekend
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– It’s the most wonderful time of the year: rivalry week.
The Lobo women’s basketball team closes out the week and the stretch of seven games in 13 days against New Mexico State with a home-and-home series that begins in Albuquerque on Friday night. Tip is set for 7 p.m. with the game being designated a Cherry Out and all fans are asked to wear cherry.
For those unable to attend, the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network and carried on the Lobo Radio station.
UNM opened up the week with a strong performance against Grambling State where all 13 Lobos entered the scoring column in the game. The Lobos were led by Shaiquel McGruder, who finished with a game-high 22 points on 11-for-17 shooting and three steals, as well as tallied her second double-double of the season with a game-high 10 rebounds. In addition, it was McGruder’s fourth game this season with 20-plus points. McGruder was one of three Lobos to finish in double figures, joined by Antonia Anderson’s 12 points on an efficient 5-for-6 shooting and LaTora Duff’s 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting. Duff was also credited with a game-high six assists and Duff and Anderson each registered two steals.
UNM led from start to finish in the game, leading 21-11 at the end of the first quarter and continued to build its lead in the 36-point victory.
The win was also monumental in that it provided head coach Mike Bradbury his 100th win at UNM, only the second head coach in program history to reach the century mark in victories.
Four Lobos are currently averaging 10-plus points per game in McGruder (14.3), Jaedyn De La Cerda (13.4), LaTora Duff (11.4) and Anderson (10.3). LaTascya Duff (9.8) is just outside of that mark. Further, De La Cerda has reached double figures in all but two games (Northern New Mexico and Grambling State), while McGruder and LaTascya have reached double figures in six games and Anderson in five.
In addition, the Lobos have had six different leading scorers in the nine games this season: Anderson (16, Lamar), Vianè Cumber (17, Northern New Mexico), McGruder (30, Prairie View; 20, Houston Baptist; 22, Grambling State), LaTora Duff (16, Houston), De La Cerda (18, Stephen F. Austin and 15, Louisiana-Monroe) and LaTascya Duff (21, Texas Tech).
As a result, the Lobos are among the top of the NCAA in several statistical categories. UNM is fifth in assists (155) and three-point field goals made (82), sixth in three-point field goals attempted (231), 12th in rebounds (349) and 14th in steals (89). In addition, the Lobos are 24th in three-point field goals per game (9.1), 29th in assists per game (17.2), 31st in blocked shots per game (4.0) and 33rd in field-goal percentage (45.9).
On an individual level, LaTora Duff is second in the NCAA in assists (53) and 22nd in assists per game (5.9), McGruder is seventh in field-goal percentage (65.9), eighth in field-goals made (58) and 34th in points (129) and Anderson is 20th in blocked shots (16). De La Cerda is 19th in three-point field-goals attempted (56), 28th in three-point field-goals made (20) and 57th in points (121). LaTascya Duff is 34th in three-point field-goals made (19).
The Lobos and Aggies have a long-standing rivalry, but this will be the first meeting since 2019. UNM leads 54-26 in the series and has won the last six meetings, scoring 100-plus points in two of the games and outscoring the Aggies 538-396, averaging 89.7 points. This season, UNM is outscoring its opponents 684-560 with the largest margin in the first quarter (184-126, 58 points).
In Coach Bradbury’s time at UNM, the Lobos are 7-1 against New Mexico State.
NMSU enters the game having last played on Nov. 27 against Tennessee Tech (a win) and had its game against UTEP postponed. New Mexico State has played five games this season, with wins over Western New Mexico (94-40), Incarnate Word (57-48) and Tennessee Tech (66-54) and losses against UTEP (76-61) and LSU (72-52).
The Aggies have started the same lineup in all five games with Bigue Sarr, Tayelin Grays, Soufia Inoussa, Melanie Isbell, and Jade Bradley. Sarr leads the team in points (59, 11.8 ppg) and in rebounds (28, 5.6 rpg), with Isbell leading in assists (18) and Grays in steals (10). Both Sarr and Molly Kaiser are averaging over 10 points a game, at 11.8 and 10.2, respectively.
As a team, NMSU is shooting 43.5 percent from the floor, but only 20 of its 127 makes have come from behind the arc (15.7%). The Aggies make 4.0 three-pointers per game, with their opponents making 3.2 per game. They rank 16th in the NCAA in three-point field-goal defense (21.3%) and 34th in fewest turnovers (76).