Lobos Add Another Road Win at SDSU Saturday
SAN DIEGO, Calif.— Antonia Anderson registered a game- and career-high 13 rebounds to go with 15 points and Shaiquel McGruder scored a team-high 18 points, to go with nine rebounds, five blocks and three steals to lead the Lobo women’s basketball team to a 67-58 win at San Diego State on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday’s game marked Anderson’s fourth double-double of the season. For McGruder, it was her second game this season with five blocks as well as 10th time this season with multiple blocks and seventh time in 11 games. It was also her second game with three steals in the last three games and sixth game in double figures in the last seven games.
Four Lobos ultimately finished in double figures, with LaTascya Duff scoring 14 points and Jaedyn De La Cerda scoring 11 points, with LaTora Duff scoring nine points and recording a game-high seven assists.
Two Lobos made multiple three-pointers with Anderson making four and LaTascya making three, while LaTascya also matched her career high in rebounds with eight and extended her three-point streak to 25 games.
The Lobos recorded 13 steals with five Lobos recording multiple steals with LaTascya, Anderson and De La Cerda registering two each and McGruder and LaTora registering three each.
SDSU scored the first five points of the game before LaTora hit a three to get the Lobos on the board. However, the Aztecs pulled ahead by 10 at 13-3 at the 6:13 mark in the first quarter, to which the Lobos battled back with a 14-3 run to close the quarter for a 17-16 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes.
LaTascya led the Lobos with six points on a three-pointer and three free throws, with four Lobos hitting a three-pointer in the quarter.
The Aztecs made a three-pointer to retake the lead at the start of the second, but De La Cerda tied the game at 19 on a drive and spin move at the rim. Two McGruder free throws put the Lobos in front with 6:43 left in the second quarter, with both teams trading empty possessions until SDSU tied the game at 21 with 3:14 left. McGruder again broke the tie with a layup 14 seconds later and Anderson kept the Lobos in front with a layup that made it 25-21 for the final points of the quarter.
UNM came out of the break on an 11-0 run, in what ultimately was a 15-0 run including the end of the second, to build a 15-point lead at 36-21 before the run was temporarily halted by two made Aztec free throws at the 5:55 point of the third quarter. LaTascya hit a three-pointer on the following Lobo possession to stretch the lead to 16, but the Aztecs went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to nine with a little more than four minutes to play.
New Mexico responded to build the lead back up to 14 on an Anderson three and two free throws by LaTora, with the Lobos eventually closing the quarter on an Anderson three-pointer and a De La Cerda layup for the 53-37 Lobo lead at the end of the third.
Anderson led all scorers with nine points in the third quarter, going 3-for-3 from three-point range, with McGruder and De La Cerda adding six points each.
Two more free throws by LaTora stretched the lead to its largest margin of the game at 18 points at the start of the fourth quarter, with the double-digit lead holding until an Aztec layup brought the lead down to nine with 6:06 left in the game. SDSU got as close as six with 4:51 on the clock before McGruder made two layups to push the lead back to double figures with 1:15 left. McGruder made an impact on both ends of the floor, recording three blocks in the fourth quarter in the span of a little over a minute (1:15) in between her two layups. McGruder finished with four blocks in the fourth quarter while Anderson grabbed five rebounds.
An Aztec layup once again closed the gap to single digits, but a McGruder layup and an Anderson free throw closed the Lobo scoring. SDSU made a last second basket for the final points, but the Lobos emerged with a nine-point road win.
The Lobos held the Aztecs to 30.0 percent shooting from the floor, and are 15-1 on the season and 7-0 in conference play when holding opponents between 30 and 39.9 percent in a game.
UNM moves to 9-1 in conference and 18-5 on the season following Saturday’s win.
Up next: UNM returns home for its next three home games, hosting Colorado State on Feb. 2, Wyoming on Feb. 5 and Air Force on Feb. 9.