Lobos Host Lumberjacks in Season Opener Monday Morning

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— After two exhibitions to get ready, the 2024-25 season officially begins on Monday morning as New Mexico hosts Northern Arizona in an 11 a.m. Field Trip Day game.

The Lobos went 2-0 in their two exhibitions with wins over New Mexico Highlands (93-67) and Western Colorado (78-54). Monday’s game will be the first of two home games on the week and the first of six home games in the month of November for the Lobos.

SEASON OPENER STATS
UNM is 7-1 in season openers and 6-0 when opening the season at home under Coach Mike Bradbury. The Lobos have outscored their opponents 641-507 (+134) in season openers and average 80.1 points per game in season openers under Bradbury.

Monday will be the fourth time in program history that UNM opens the season against NAU, with the Lobos 2-1 in those games. The Lobos last opened the season against Northern Arizona in 2012, a 68-57 UNM win. The other times were in 1998, a 67-49 UNM win and in 1991, an 81-56 NAU win.

NAU SERIES HISTORY
UNM is 23-6 all-time against NAU, 17-2 at home and has won the last nine games in the series. The series started in 1975 with a 65-37 Lobo win, the start of a 12-game win streak for UNM to begin the series that spanned from 1975 to 1984.

The Lobos last played the Lumberjacks in the first round of the WNIT, a 72-64 Lobo win in The Pit.

Coach Mike Bradbury is 3-0 all-time against NAU, 2-0 at home. In the three meetings, UNM has outscored NAU 239-195 (+44) and by a 79.7-65.0 ppg average.

THIS ONE’S FOR THE KIDS
Monday’s game is a Field Trip game for UNM in which approximately 662 kids from 10 elementary schools in the Albuquerque Public Schools system will be in attendance.

A WHOLE NEW TEAM
The 2024-25 Lobos will have a different look than a season ago, with 10 newcomers on the roster. Of the 10, four are freshmen and six are transfers.

UNM returns one starter from a season ago in Viané Cumber, who averaged 11.4 points per game, 6.0 rebounds per game, both career bests, as well as had a career-best 39 assists, 22 steals and five blocks last season. Entering their sophomore seasons, Lara Langermann and Paris Lauro return after making 32 appearances with six starts and 22 appearances, respectively. Hulda Joaquim begins her third year with the Lobos and played in 31 games last year for a combined 44 games during her Lobo career.

Joining the Lobos in the offseason were freshmen Reza Po, Joana Magalhães, Nayli Padilla and Lilli Hakkarainen. The Lobos are a relatively young team with eight of the 14 underclassmen, however, of the 14, eight also bring Division I collegiate experience with the addition of transfers Drew Jordon (Wagner), Clarissa Craig (Cincinnati), Amhyia Moreland (San José State) and Alyssa Hargrove (Austin Peay) to compliment the four Lobo returners.

ROSTER BREAKDOWN
The roster breaks down to 4 freshmen (28.6%), 4 sophomores (28.6%), 1 junior (7.1%), 4 seniors (28.6%) and 1 graduate student (7.1%). Eight of the 14 are underclassmen (57.1%) with six upperclassmen (42.9%).

AROUND THE WORLD   
The roster breaks down further to span across the globe with seven countries represented and seven U.S. states with 12 different languages spoken. UNM has players from six international countries in Germany, Republic Democratic of Congo, Spain, Portugal, Mozambique, Finland as well as a greater U.S. footprint with Washington DC, North Carolina, Ohio, California, Texas, Indiana and New Mexico.

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME
The Lobos have a total of 22 home games on the schedule with two exhibitions, 11 non-conference and nine MW games.

In the opening month, UNM has six home games with two separate three-game homestands broken up by a trip to Texas Tech. UNM has five home games in December with one road trip to Las Cruces and New Mexico State.

UNM has four home games in both January and February and close the MW schedule at home against Air Force on March 4.

The Lobos went 14-4 at home last season and 45-8 (85%) at home in the last three years.

SUMMER ABROAD
Two Lobos spent their summer with their respective national teams, playing in the FIBA U20 Women’s EuroBasket in Klaipeda and Vilnius, Lithuania.

Lara Langermann played for the German National Team, finishing in fourth place after losing to France in the semifinals and Italy in the third-place game. Lilli Hakkarainen played for the Finnish National Team.

Langermann and Hakkarainen faced each other in the round of 16 with Germany winning 90-60. Langermann scored 11 points on 4-5 shooting, 3-4 from three-point range, while Hakkarainen finished with five points and three rebounds.

Hakkarainen finished the tournament averaging 6.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.9 apg and 0.7 spg while playing 24.4 mpg. Langermann finished averaging 4.4 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.7 spg in 14.3 mpg.

ABOUT NAU
Northern Arizona enters the season as the Big Sky preseason favorites in both the coaches’ and media polls after finishing 25-10 overall, 15-3 in conference last season. Additionally, the Lumberjacks had two players earn preseason honors as Sophie Glancey was named the Big Sky’s Preseason MVP and Leia Beattie was selected to the preseason all-conference team.

NAU features three returning starters (Glancey, Beattie and Nyah Moran) and 10 players who earned time a season ago in which the Lumberjacks averaged 75.3 ppg and allowed 70.1 ppg. Glancey led the team with 15.7 points per game, with Beattie also averaging double figures at 11.9 ppg.

Collectively, NAU shot 42.1% from the floor and 33.8% from three-point range with an average of 7.7 made three-pointers per game. Defensively, NAU averaged 39.1 rebounds per game, led by Glancey’s 7.3 per game.