ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos are home for two games on the week, starting with UT Martin on Thursday at 7 p.m.
UNM enters the game on a three-game win streak and with a 4-1 record, while the Skyhawks are 1-2. Of their three games, one included then-No. 8 Tennessee in which they led by as many as eight in the second quarter and was tied at halftime before losing by 11.
SERIES HISTORY
Thursday will be the first meeting between the two programs.
RELIABLE HOOKS
Destinee Hooks has scored in double figures in all five games and led the Lobos in scoring in two games, scoring 20 or more points in both. Hooks led the Lobos with a game-high 22 points at Colorado and followed that up with a game-high 20 points against North Carolina A&T. NC A&T was the eighth time scoring 20-plus points at UNM.
Through the first five games of the season, Hooks is averaging 16.0 points per game with 2.0 three-pointers per game, shooting 43.9% from the floor. She’s also tied for second on the team with 4.4 rebounds per game.
Hooks is third in the conference in scoring, and is tied for sixth in three-pointers per game and ninth in field-goal percentage (43.9%). Nationally, she is 58th in points (80) and 67th in field goals (29) and 41st in field goal attempts (66).
FAST START
The Lobos made four of their first five shots in the season opener against Northern Arizona with Nayli Padilla accounting for five points. At Colorado, CU scored the first six points of the game, but three-pointers from Destinee Hooks and Clarissa Craig tied the game and two free throws by Craig and a basket by Joana Magalhães continued the Lobo run for the 10-6 UNM lead.
Against New Orleans, the Lobos scored the first seven points, built a 15-4 lead within the first 4:29 with the lead growing to 21 at 27-6 behind a 9-0 run in a span of 1:11. A jumper from Hooks with 18 seconds left closed the quarter with UNM leading 37-12. The Lobos shot 72.2% in the first quarter on 13-18 shooting with five three-pointers. UNM scored 65 points in the first two quarters.
UNM is outscoring opponents 91-66 (+25) in the first quarter, 120-68 in the second quarter (+52) and 211-134 (+77) in the first 20 minutes.
WIN THE QUARTER
The Lobos have won the second quarter in all five games this season, scoring 20-plus points in all five games (twice with 28 points, twice with 22 points, once with 20) and holding opponents to 16 points or fewer in four of the five. UNM held NMSU to four points in the second quarter.
Further, UNM has outscored its opponent in the first quarter twice (NAU, UNO), the third quarter three times (UNO, NAU, NMSU) and the fourth quarter twice (NAU, AT). The Lobos have also held their opponent below 10 points twice this season (five in the fourth quarter against NAU and four in the second quarter against NMSU).
UNM is 2-0 when leading after the first quarter, 4-0 when leading at the half and 4-0 when leading after the third quarter.
ABOUT LAST WEEK
UNM outscored its opponents 176-110 (88.0-55.0) in its two games last week, shooting 52.9% from the floor and 39.6% from three-point range with 9.5 made three-pointers per game. Defensively, the Lobos averaged 14.0 steals per game and had a +15.0 rebound margin (42-27).
Nayli Padilla led the Lobos in both games, averaging 15.5 ppg, 70.0% from three-point range (7-10) and 73.3% from the floor (11-15) with an average of 4.0 rebounds per game. Destinee Hooks averaged 13.0 points per game and Cacia Antonio averaged 10.0 points per game and 5.0 rebounds per game.
ART OF THE STEAL
The Lobos are averaging a conference-best 12.8 steals per game behind four games with double-digit steals: 18 against New Orleans, 16 against North Carolina A&T, 14 in the season opener against Northern Arizona and 10 against New Mexico State.
UNM was credited with 14 steals against Northern Arizona with six players recording at least one steal, three players with multiple steals and two players setting career highs in steals. Nayli Padilla finished with a career-high three steals and Joana Magalhães registered a career-high six steals. Magalhães’ steals were the most by a MW player in the first two days of the season.
Against A&T, UNM recorded 11 steals in the first 20 minutes (six in the first quarter, five in the second), finishing with 16 in the game. Six players had at least one steal with five with multiple steals.
In the first three games, Magalhães was credited with six steals twice. The sophomore is averaging 2.8 steals per game and is 31st in the NCAA in steals (14). The 13 steals accounts for 21.9% of UNM’s total steals. Her season high last season was four, which she did twice, and finished the season with 44 steals.
Alyssa Hargrove had a career-best seven steals in the game against New Orleans with UNM creating a season-best 18 steals as a team. The seven steals are tied for the eighth most in a game by a DI player this season. Drew Jordon was credited with three and Laila Abdurraqib and Tyler Jones each had two. UNM had 13 steals in the first two quarters with seven in the first quarter (Hargrove had three).
Hargrove added three steals against New Mexico State, and now sits at 170
steals and 54 blocks for her college career. The only other active DI players with at least 170 steals and 50 blocks are LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson, TCU’s Maddie Scherr, UCLA’s Charlisse Leger-Walker and Howard’s Nile Miller.
Additionally, Hargrove has recorded a steal in all five games with four games with multiple steals. She is 21st in the NCAA in steals (15).
UNM is tied for 40th in the NCAA in steals per game and leads the MW in steals per game. Magalhães is fifth in the conference in steals per game and Hargrove is tied for third in steals per game (3.0) but with the most steals.
For comparison, UNM reached double-digit steals in 11 games last season, with the season high of 15, and averaged 7.9 steals per game.
MAKING THE MOST OF THE OPPORTUNITY
Nayli Padilla started the first three games of the season after starting one game last season and made the most of her increased minutes.
In the three games, the sophomore averaged 10.7 points per game with 4.7 rebounds per game, 1.7 steals per game and 2.0 assists per game in 33.8 minutes per game. For comparison, last season she averaged 3.7 points per game, 2.2 rebounds per game, 1.6 assists per game and 0.6 steals per game in 25 games.
While she now comes off the bench, her production hasn’t faltered, and in fact, she’s had two career games. She led the Lobos in scoring against both New Orleans (with a career-high 17 points) and at New Mexico State (14 points with a career-high four, three-pointers). She added a season-high six rebounds and tallied three assists against the Aggies.
She has also gotten more efficient behind the arc as the season has gone on, as both her made three-pointers and three-point percentage has increased with each game. Padilla went 4-5 against NMSU and has made three or more three-pointers in each of the last three games.
Padilla leads the conference in three-point percentage (.481) and is second in three-pointers per game (2.6). She is also tied for 16th in points per game (12.6) and is 11th in minutes played (29.8). Nationally, the Lobo is 29th in three-pointers and 71st in three-point percentage.
AUTOMATIC CC
A season after Vianè Cumber broke the school record for consecutive free throws in a season, Clarissa Craig is taking the mantle at the line. After making seven consecutive free throws in the season opener, Craig has made seven consecutive free throws since, going 15-16 at the line this season.
The Lobo is 32nd in the NCAA in free throw percentage (93.8) and second in the Mountain West.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Three Skyhawks are averaging double figures through their first three games, led by Kenley McCarn at 14.0 points per game. Grace Billington is averaging 13.0 ppg and Zy Thompson is averaging 10.3 ppg. All three have led the team in scoring in a game this season.
McCarn, Thompson, Brittany Wells and Norah Clark have all started all three games with Billington starting the last game and Sidni Middleton starting the first two games. Billington is also the team leading in rebounds per game at 5.0.
As a team, the Skyhawks are averaging 64.7 ppg while allowing 56.0 ppg, shooting 39.3% and 39.2% from three-point range with an average of 13.7 assists per game and an average of 6.7 made three-pointers per game.