ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos closed Monday night’s season opener against Northern Arizona on a 10-1 run in the final 5:40 and held the Lumberjacks to five points in the fourth quarter to pull away for the 77-59 victory.
UNM led for 38:42 and by as many as 19 in the third quarter behind a 10-0 run.
Three Lobos finished in double figures, led by 16 from Clarissa Craig in her first game as a Lobo, while Destinee Hooks (12) and Alyssa Hargrove (11) also reached double digits. For Craig, the redshirt-senior matched her career high, done in 2023, and went 8-9 from the free-throw line and a perfect 4-4 from the floor, including four free throws in the aforementioned 10-1 run.
The Lobos were balanced in scoring with six players scoring eight or more points and 21 points coming from the bench, led by nine from Laila Abdurraqib.
Defensively, the Lumberjacks struggled against UNM’s pressure, with the Lobos forcing 14 steals and 17 turnovers, turning them into 20 points. Joana Magalhães was credited with a career-high six steals with Nayli Padilla creating three steals and Alyssa Hargrove two.
Both teams started hot, with NAU making its first two shots and UNM making four of its first five shots for a 9-4 lead that included five points from Padilla. A Lumberjack three closed the margin to two, however, the Lobos built the lead to six on a three from Hooks for a 14-8 lead with 4:33 left. NAU twice pulled within a possession in the final three minutes of the opening quarter with the Lobos responding each time to create separation, the first time on a Hargrove three and then on an Abdurraqib three. A Hargrove steal and layup closed the scoring for the Lobos, giving the home team a 22-15 lead.
UNM stretched its lead to double digits on a Magalhães layup less than a minute into the second quarter and again on two Hooks’ free throws before NAU cut the margin in half at 27-22 with 6:36 left in the quarter. A Hargrove three kept NAU from getting any closer, and when NAU again closed within five, two Craig free throws and a three by Hooks started an 8-0 run over a span of 2:03 to expand the lead to 13 at 38-25. The lead grew to 14 on an Abdurraqib three-pointer with 2:53 on the clock before NAU hit a pair of three-pointers and closed with a layup for the 44-35 Lobo lead at the break.
A 10-0 run that started and ended with Magalhães in the third stretched the lead to its largest margin of 19 at 58-39. However, four consecutive three-pointers by NAU in what amounted to a 12-2 Lumberjack run cut the lead down to nine at 60-51 with 2:21 left in the quarter. A three-point play from Craig out of the media timeout kept UNM in control with Tyler Jones scoring the final points of the quarter on a turnaround jumper for a 65-54 lead.
NAU pulled within nine in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, although a layup by Emma Najjuma and Abdurraqib three allowed the Lobos to pull away with the lead growing back up to the final margin of 18. NAU made a pair of free throws with 7:13 left in the game and didn’t score again until there was 3:29 left on another free throw with the Lumberjacks going 1-13 in the quarter and 3-4 from the free-throw line.
The Lobos (1-0) travel to Colorado to face the Buffaloes on Thursday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. UNM returns home on Nov. 9 against North Carolina A&T at 1 p.m.