Lobo Comeback Comes Up Short in OT to Aggies
LAS CRUCES, N.M.— A frantic comeback in which the Lobo women’s basketball team came back from down 28 and forced overtime came up just short as UNM fell 73-64 on Tuesday night to New Mexico State.
New Mexico outscored NMSU 30-13 in the fourth quarter and 44-25 in the final 20 minutes after struggling with cold shooting in the first 20 minutes. LaTora Duff scored 12 points between the third and fourth quarters to finish with a team-high 13, while Shaiquel McGruder scored 11 points in the second half to finish with 11.
The Lobos had four players finish in double figures with Amaya Brown at 11 and LaTascya Duff with 10, with Duff also grabbing a game- and career-high nine rebounds.
Defensively, the Lobos forced 14 steals, with Brown and LaTascya accounting for three each, tying Brown’s career high, and LaTora and McGruder with two each. UNM also had six blocks, with McGruder recording three, Reus, Brown and LaTascya one apiece.
Trailing 44-16 with 2:31 remaining in the third quarter, UNM’s comeback started with a McGruder layup, and was the start of an 11-0 run to close that quarter that included a LaTora three-pointer, a Paula Reus layup, a LaTora layup and a McGruder steal and fast-break layup. During the run, the Lobo defense recorded two blocks and two steals.
McGruder scored seven of UNM’s 14 points in the quarter with LaTora scoring five and Reus two.
The Lobo run continued at the start of the fourth quarter with Nia Johnson responsible for the first six Lobo points of the quarter on two free throws and jumper to cut the deficit to 13 at 44-31. After the Aggies got a basket back, a Johnson layup started a 6-0 UNM run that cut the margin down to single digits at 46-37 and a converted and-one opportunity by LaTora made it an eight-point game with 5:59 left. An Aggie free throw ended the run, but the Lobos picked back up with a 12-0 run on a layup by Reus, two made free throws by LaTascya and Brown and back-to-back three pointers by LaTora and LaTascya to make it a one-point game at 51-50 with 3:37 left.
NMSU split a pair of free throws, allowing the Lobos to tie the game on the next possession on a McGruder layup, with the teams trading a free throw to create another tie at 53. After NMSU went back ahead 55-53 at the free-throw line, Aniyah Augmon evened the game back up with 1:44 on the clock. The teams traded free throws, with Brown tying the game at 57 with 1:16 left. Neither team was able to convert on their final possession, leading to overtime.
UNM shot 69.2 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter on 9-for-13 shooting.
There was one final tie in overtime after a Brown jumper evened the game at 59, but the Aggies built a five-point lead that stretched to 69-61. A LaTascya layup pulled the Lobos within five before NMSU closed with the final four points.
The Lobos (1-2) host Arizona State on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m.