Lobos Lose to Rams
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos fell to the Rams on Tuesday night, tying the game twice in the first quarter, however, were unable to take a lead in a 69-63 loss.
Joana Magalhães and Destinee Hooks led the Lobos through the first two quarters with 10 points apiece, with Hooks ultimately leading the Lobos with 16 points and Magalhães with 12 points. Alyssa Hargrove had a balanced night with nine points, a game-high eight assists, two steals, three rebounds and a block, her 14th game this season with multiple steals. Hargrove went 3-4 from three-point range with her three tying her career high. Off the bench, Nayli Padilla added eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Amhyia Moreland scored seven points to go with two blocks and five rebounds.
CSU scored the first four points of the game with Magalhães making a three to pull the Lobos within one a little more than two minutes in. A three-pointer by Hooks tied the game at six with the Rams making a three on the other end to retake the lead. However, a Hargrove corner three provided the equalizer with UNM making three consecutive baskets to tie the game at nine. Two three-pointers by CSU put the deficit back to six, with the margin growing to eight before a 7-0 Lobo run on two layups and three-pointer by Hooks brought the Lobos within one at 21-20 with 1:16 remaining. CSU scored the next four points to pull ahead by five with Paris Lauro closing the quarter with a three as time expired for the 25-23 score.
The Lobos held CSU without a field goal for 3:34 and without a point for 2:46 to close the game to one, and Hooks had 10 points with UNM making five three-pointers in the first quarter.
CSU opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run to extend the Lobo deficit to nine before a three-pointer from Viané Cumber off of a Padilla offensive rebound and a Magalhães layup reduced the gap to four with 4:11 remaining in the quarter. While the Rams stretched the point differential to nine at 39-30, a Hargrove three-pointer and Magalhães three-pointer with three seconds remaining made it 41-36 CSU at the break.
Hargrove had six points on two three-pointers, seven assists, a block and a steal in the first two quarters and Magalhães and Hooks each had 10 points. As a team, UNM shot 50.0% from three with eight three-pointers and led 8-0 in second-chance points.
A Padilla basket and later a Padilla three-pointer twice pulled the Lobos within six points in the third quarter, the latest at the 6:26 mark of the quarter, but the Rams stretched the lead to 10 and closed the quarter with the final six points as UNM trailed 58-45 at the end of the third.
UNM scored nine points in the quarter with Padilla scoring five and Moreland accounting for the other four points, with UNM making four baskets in the quarter.
The deficit stretched to its largest point of 15 at the start of the fourth quarter with the Lobos closing to within seven on a Moreland jumper with 4:35 but were ultimately unable to get any closer than six on a layup by Hooks with 20 seconds left.
Of note, Cumber hit her second three-pointer of the game with 7:03 on the clock in the fourth quarter, giving her 222 career three-pointers and moving her into second all-time in program history in career three-pointers. Cumber led the Lobos with eight rebounds, tying the game high, and added two assists.
UNM (13-11, 6-5 MW) heads to Las Vegas next, set to face UNLV on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. MT.