Lobos Open MW Play with Win at Nevada

RENO, Nev.—The Lobos opened conference play with a 69-59 win over Nevada on Saturday in which UNM led for 37:54, shot a season-high 48.1% from the floor and had three players finish in double figures.

It is the fourth-straight conference opening win for New Mexico, the third consecutive and fifth time in six games beating the Wolf Pack and the third time defeating Nevada to open conference. In addition, UNM is 7-1 in conference openers under Coach Mike Bradbury.

Nyah Wilson led the way for UNM with 21 points, her fourth game this season scoring 20-plus points and eighth game in double figures, and also grabbed eight rebounds, recorded a block and led with three assists. Paula Reus added 17 points, her fourth consecutive game in double figures, seventh time in eight games and ninth time this season. Aniyah Augmon rounded out the Lobos in double figures with 14 points on an efficient 6-8 shooting from the floor, the ninth game reaching double figures this season.

Wilson opened the scoring 1:45 into the contest, with Nevada answering on the other end for the only tie of the game. From there, UNM went on an 8-0 run with Reus accounting for half of the points to lead 10-2 at the media break. An Augmon layup with 1:30 remaining pushed the lead to double digits at 17-7, with the Lobos holding a 19-9 lead at the end of the first and holding an opponent to single digits in a quarter for the sixth time this season, the fifth time in the first quarter.

Of UNM’s 19 points, 18 came in the paint, while the Lobos also outshot the Wolf Pack 50.0%-20.0%.

Wilson free throws extended the lead to 12 at the start of the second, with a Paris Lauro layup off of a Charlotte Kohl assist doubled UNM’s lead at 28-14. Nevada narrowed the margin to seven (30-23), however, UNM closed the quarter on a 10-0 run over the final 3:12, capped by a pass from Reus to a cutting Augmon, who finished with a layup with three seconds remaining for the 40-23 score at the break.

The Lobos shot 63.6% (7-11) from the floor and went 6-7 from the free-throw line in the second with Reus adding six points and Lauro scoring five points, both shooting 2-2. Reus and Wilson reached double figures in the first 20 minutes at 10 points apiece with Viané Cumber grabbing eight rebounds to lead all players.

UNM shot 55.2% through the first two quarters while holding Nevada to 27.6%, while also outscoring the Wolf Pack 30-8 in the paint and rebounding Nevada 21-16. UNM outscored Nevada 42-30 in the paint in the game, the 11th game this season outscoring an opponent in the paint.

The Lobos continued to extend their lead in the third as Augmon’s layup pushed the lead to 20 at 47-27 for the largest lead of the game, with Nevada cutting it down to 12 at 55-40 with under 90 seconds to go in the quarter. A three-pointer from Reus prevented Nevada from getting any closer with the Lobos holding a 14-point lead at the end of the third.

After Nevada closed to within 11 points with 2:39 remaining in the final quarter, Wilson provided some cushion on a three-point play, driving to the basket and finished through the contact to stretch the lead back to 14 at 64-50 with 1:34 on the clock. Nevada went on a 5-0 run to get within single digits (66-57) for the first time since it was 31-23, although, with just 29 seconds left it was as close as the Wolf Pack could get. The Lobos closed the game at the free-throw line with Wilson making a pair and Kohl splitting a pair to get the margin back to 12 before Nevada made one final basket with eight seconds remaining for the 69-59 final score.

UNM improves to 10-4 on the season, 1-0 in Mountain West play, and heads home to host its next two games, starting with Boise State on Jan. 6 at 2 p.m.