Lobos Defeat Aggies on Senior Day Behind 20 from Cumber
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— It might not have been the last time Viané Cumber plays at The Pit, but it wasn’t any less meaningful as the Lobo senior and New Mexico native led the Lobos with 20 points, including 10 points in the fourth quarter on three, three-pointers as the Lobos defeated Utah State 73-65 on Saturday.
It was the eighth time this season that Cumber has scored 20 points in a game and the 15th time during her career that she’s made five or more three-pointers, finishing with five against the Aggies.
Cumber was one of four Lobos to finish in double figures, joined by 14 from Joana Magalhães, 12 from Destinee Hooks and 10 from Nayli Padilla. Hulda Joaquim led the Lobos with 10 rebounds to go with eight points and senior Amhyia Moreland recorded four blocks to go with seven rebounds, her 12th game this season with multiple blocks.
The Lobos only led for 11:29 in the game, opening the scoring with a Joaquim layup before USU took a 6-2 lead. A Padilla three with 3:30 left in the first quarter put UNM up by one at 7-6, with the Aggies using a 5-0 run to take an 11-7 lead. Two Magalhães free throws closed the quarter for the Lobos with Utah State holding a 13-9 lead through the first quarter.
Layups by Joaquim and Hooks to start the second quarter tied the game at 13, however the Aggies used a 7-2 run to lead 20-15 midway through the quarter. Layups by Joaquim and Hooks closed the margin to one and a Cumber three gave UNM the lead at 25-23 with 3:15 on the clock. Magalhães extend the Lobo lead to four on a layup, but Utah State closed on a 5-1 run, making a layup with 11 seconds left to tie the game at 28 heading into the break.
Utah State scored the first seven points of the third quarter before a Cumber jumper put UNM on the board. The Lobo deficit reached its largest part of the game, nine at 39-30, with the turning point an intentional foul by USU with 3:26 left in the quarter that sparked a 4-0 run to cut the lead to four with 3:20 to play, to which the Aggies answered to push the margin back to eight almost a minute later. An and-one from Hooks closed the third quarter with UNM trailing 53-48.
Entering the game, UNM had been 0-8, 0-4 in conference when trailing after the third quarter, but the fortune changed on Saturday.
UNM opened the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run behind baskets from Hooks and two from Alyssa Hargrove to take a 54-53 lead, with the Aggies taking the lead right back on the next possession. A Magalhães layup with 6:21 remaining brought UNM within one and started a 10-0 Lobo run behind consecutive three-pointers by Cumber and two layups from Magalhães to turn a 58-57 deficit into a 65-58 lead with 3:50 to play. An Aggie three cut the lead to four, but four-straight points from Cumber including another three-pointer provided an eight-point cushion and two Padilla free throws made it a double-digit game of 71-61 with 1:49 remaining to put the game away. Magalhães closed with two free throws with 53 seconds remaining for the final Lobo points and USU made two free throws for the final points of the game.
The Lobos outscored the Aggies 25-12 in the fourth quarter, shooting 57.1% and went 3-5 from three-point range, while also outscoring USU 7-0 in points off turnovers for the win.
Cumber scored 10 points in the fourth quarter with 3-4 shooting from behind the arc to finish with 17 points in the final 20 minutes.
With the win, the Lobos extended their win streak over the Aggies to 17 games and improve to 16-12 on the season, 9-6 in conference with three MW games remaining on the schedule.