Lobos Lead From Start to Finish to Handle Mean Green
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos led from start to finish on Sunday and by as many as 19 points behind three Lobos in double figures and a season-high 15 steals in the 75-58 win over North Texas.
Destinee Hooks and Viané Cumber paced the Lobo scoring with 19 points apiece with Amhyia Moreland finishing with 10 points. Alyssa Hargrove finished with a game-high five steals and five assists and added nine points, while Hulda Joaquim also finished with nine points and had a team-high seven rebounds and two blocks.
Five different Lobos accounted for at least one steal with Hooks adding four, Moreland with three, Joana Magalhães with two and Lara Langermann with one.
Sunday was the fourth time this season that the Lobos have held their opponent below 60 and are 4-0 when doing so and handed UNT its second loss of the season and snapping its three-game win streak.
A Hargrove steal led to a fast-break layup by Hooks to get the Lobo scoring started, with Hooks drawing the foul and converting at the line for the three-point play. Hooks scored the first five UNM points and ultimately contributed to the first seven as a steal by Hooks led to a transition layup by Joaquim that gave UNM the early 7-1 lead in the first 1:45.
UNT closed within two at 7-5, however a personal 8-0 Cumber run on a corner three, jumper and another three pushed UNM’s lead to 15-5. A Moreland layup was followed by Reza Po drawing an offensive foul on the defensive end and Po hitting a three-pointer on the other end to stretch the lead to 13 with under four minutes to play.
From the point it was 7-5 at the 7:11 mark, UNM used a 14-2 run over 3:57 to go up 21-7 and a personal 5-0 Hargrove run made it 26-12 with 2:08 to play, with the Lobos leading 28-12 at the end of the first. Cumber led with eight points, Hooks with seven and 14 of UNM’s points came in the paint with a 10-0 advantage in fast-break points.
UNT scored the first six points of the second quarter, but Hargrove went on a 4-0 personal run that included a steal and fast-break layup to push the margin back to 14 at 32-18. The run extended to 9-0 on a three-pointer from Hooks and a Moreland steal that led to a Moreland jumper that pushed the lead to 37-18 with 1:39 to play. UNM held UNT the final 7:17 without a field goal, holding the Mean Green to eight points in the quarter for a 39-20 lead at the break.
Hooks led all scorers with 10 points at the break as UNM shot 53.3% from the floor as a team, compared to 26.9% for UNT. Of UNM’s 39 points, 20 came in the paint, with UNM also having the advantage in points off turnovers (12-0), fast-break points (12-2), bench points (10-5) and second-chance points (5-2). Moreland had a balanced seven points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks at the half.
The margin fluctuated between 17 and 15 points through the first 4:09 of the third quarter before pressure by UNT led to a 6-0 Mean Green run to cut the Lobo lead to 11, but an inbound pass from Cumber to Moreland led to an and-one for Moreland’s 10th point. Po followed up with a floater in the lane to extend the lead and a Joaquim offensive rebound and putback made it 51-33 with UNM leading 54-39 at the end of the third.
UNT forced six UNM turnovers, turning them into seven of its 19 points in the quarter, while the Lobos were able to capitalize on three offensive rebounds for six second-chance points and a 6-0 edge in that category.
The Mean Green opened the fourth with the first five points to whittle it down to 10 points before Hooks got the Lobos on the board in the quarter on two free throws. A Hooks three made it 59-46 and a steal and pass ahead from Hooks to Cumber led to a layup to make it 63-48. The lead reached 18 on a Cumber three-pointer as part of a 7-0 Cumber run, with UNT getting as close as 12 twice late in the game before a Langermann three-pointer and Joaquim layup closed the scoring for the 17-point differential.
Cumber scored nine points in the fourth with UNM credited with five steals in the quarter, converting eight UNT turnovers into 12 points.
Overall, UNM forced 23 turnovers from UNT, converting them into 26 points with a 26-13 edge in the category. UNM also had a 13-2 edge in second-chance points, 16-13 edge in fast-break points and 38-36 edge in paint points, accounting for half of UNM’s total points.
UNM improves to 5-3 with the win and closes out its six-game homestand against New Mexico State on Friday night at 7 p.m. Friday’s game is the first of a home-and-home with the Aggies, with the second game of the series set for Sunday afternoon in Las Cruces.