McGruder Scores 22 Points with 5 Blocks as Lobos Fall to Cowgirls
LARAMIE, Wyo.— Shaiquel McGruder finished with a game-high 22 points, game-high five blocks and a team-high three steals, but the Lobos couldn’t complete the comeback on the road at Wyoming on Thursday night in the 78-69 loss.
It was the third-straight game that McGruder recorded 20-plus points, the seventh-straight game with multiple steals and it was the third time this season that McGruder has finished with five blocks and the fourth-straight game with multiple blocks. LaTascya Duff made four three-pointers to finish with 14 points for her ninth-straight game with multiple three-pointers and her 10th game in double figures.
As a team, UNM finished with 10 three-pointers on the night, with McGruder making two, Paula Reus making two and Viané Cumber and Amaya Brown each making one.
Aniyah Augmon led with five assists off of the bench, tying her career high.
A Duff layup put the Lobos in front 7-4 early before Wyoming went on a 15-0 run that the Lobos tried to come back from for the remainder of the contest. Trailing 25-14 at the end of the first, the Lobos opened the second with a Reus three and UNM got the lead down to seven at 30-23 on a LaTora Duff jumper 2:30 into the quarter. UNM kept climbing back, getting the deficit down to four on a LaTascya corner three that made it 36-32 with 2:06 remaining, however, the Cowgirls closed with the final six points of the quarter for the 42-32 halftime score.
Wyoming extended the margin to 17 midway through the third quarter at 56-39, but the Lobos closed to within 11 on a layup and three-pointer by McGruder with 3:12 to play in the frame. The Lobos were within 11 two other times down the stretch at 60-49 and 62-51 but trailed 65-51 at the end of the third.
McGruder accounted for 11 of UNM’s 19 points in the third quarter and recorded two of her five blocks in the quarter.
UNM applied pressure in the fourth, allowing the Lobos to go on a 5-0 run behind a Brown layup and and-one opportunity and an Augmon layup that closed the score to eight at 67-59. However, Wyoming had an answer to push the gap back to double-digits at 13 (72-59) with 5:14 remaining. The Lobos made one last push, with a LaTascya three-pointer, a Reus layup and a McGruder layup to make it a six-point game at 72-66 with 2:54 to play, the closest the Lobos would be able to get as Wyoming scored on its next two possessions to go back ahead by 10. McGruder made one more jumper for UNM’s final points with neither team scoring in the final 1:49.
The Lobos are now 9-6 on the season, 1-1 in the Mountain West, and head to Colorado State to face the Rams on Saturday at noon.