ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Wednesday night’s Mountain West opener brought adversity for New Mexico, trailing heading into the fourth quarter and by as many as six in the fourth quarter against Boise State, but the Lobos leaned on their experience to defeat the Broncos 70-63.
The Lobos used a 12-0 run over a span of 2:18 in the fourth quarter to turn a 55-49 deficit into a 61-55 lead, with a Nayli Padilla layup with 5:51 left giving the Lobos the lead for the remainder of the game.
UNM led for 27:29 of the contest, however, there were also 10 lead changes and seven ties of which five lead changes and six ties occurred in the third quarter.
With the win, the Lobos have won their last six conference openers and Head Coach Mike Bradbury is 9-1 in conference openers.
Joana Magalhães became the seventh different Lobo to lead the Lobos in scoring this season, finishing with a season-high 16 points, one of four Lobos to reach double digits.
Alyssa Hargrove scored 12 points, scoring 10-plus points for the sixth time this season and third consecutive game and Destinee Hooks and Cacia Antonio each finished with 11 points. For Hooks, Wednesday continued her streak of double-digit scoring to 12 games and for Antonio, was the sixth time this season scoring double figures. The Lobos are now 6-0 when Hargrove reaches double figures and have had at least three players score in double figures in all nine wins with five games with four players.
Defensively, UNM finished with 12 steals, led by three each from Magalhães and Padilla, with Hargrove and Antonio recording two each. Emma Najjuma led the team in rebounds with eight, as UNM outrebounded BSU 40-35, moving to 8-0 when outrebounding their opponent.
Additionally, of UNM’s 70 points, a season-high 50 points were scored in the paint, 19 points were scored off of BSU’s 19 turnovers and 17 were from fast-break opportunities. UNM outscored the Broncos in all three categories (50-32, 19-11 and 17-4, respectively).
Both teams had turnovers on their first possession with Antonio scoring the first points 1:21 into the game. UNM ultimately scored the first 14 points of the game, 10 coming in the paint, and Padilla accounting for five points and six different Lobos contributing to the 14 points. The Broncos missed their first nine shots, including four three-point attempts, scoring their first points on a layup with 1:56 left in the quarter. BSU added a layup before a Laila Abdurraqib three with two seconds left closed the quarter with UNM in front 17-4. Of note, it the sixth time holding an opponent below 10 points in a quarter and the fewest points allowed in the first quarter this season.
BSU scored the first five points of the second before Hooks rebounded her own miss and put it back in for two and Magalhães added a turnaround jumper to push the lead to 12 at 21-9 2:15 into the quater. However, BSU used an 11-0 run to close within one at 21-20 with 4:00 remaining in the quarter. Magalhães ended the run on a layup, but BSU scored the next four points to take its first lead at 24-23. Antonio answered with a layup on the other end to change the lead with a Bronco jumper giving the visitors the lead back. A Hargrove free throw tied the game at 26, and steals by Magalhães and Hargrove on consecutive possessions led to layups and a Lobo lead.
Magalhães stole an inbounds pass and made a layup to give UNM back the lead and Hargrove extended it on a steal and fast-break layup to give UNM a 30-26 lead. BSU closed the scoring with a free throw for the three-point Lobo lead at the half.
Of UNM’s 30 points, 22 came in the paint and 11 were off of turnovers, with UNM forcing 11 Bronco turnovers. UNM had seven steals in the first two quarters, led by three from Magalhães.
Hooks opened the scoring in the third with a layup with BSU using a 9-2 run to tie the game at 34 and then take a 36-34 lead. Hargrove tied the game with two free throws with another tie at 38 before five consecutive points from Hooks creating another tie at 40 and then a 43-40 Lobo lead. A Bronco three-pointer tied the game at 43 with four minutes left, with BSU holding a 46-43 lead with 1:29 left. Layups by Magalhães and Najjuma put the Lobos up 47-46 with 28 seconds left with the Broncos making two free throws in the final seconds of the quarter to take a one-point lead into the fourth.
Boise State again scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to push the Lobo deficit to six points at 53-47 with 7:44 remaining in the game with Antonio’s layup providing UNM’s first points. BSU matched it with a layup on the other end that made it 55-49 with 7:02 to play, with the Broncos then going 3:10 without scoring.
In that time, the Lobos used a 12-0 run, starting with a Hargrove layup that gave her double digits, a layup by Magalhães off of a Najjuma offensive rebound, and a Hargrove steal that led to a Padilla layup that gave UNM a 56-55 lead. Out of a Boise State timeout, a Padilla steal turned into an Abdurraqib layup, with Abdurraqib adding a free throw and Antonio closing the run on a layup, driving coast-to-coast after grabbing the defensive rebound for the 61-55 lead. The Lobos made eight consecutive field goals, all layups, in the fourth quarter.
After the Broncos scored to end the run, Najjuma answered with layup on a Hargrove assist (her fifth of the game), and again, when BSU made a layup to close with four, UNM had an answer with Antonio making a layup. Magalhães made two free throws to build the lead to eight, with BSU getting the margin down to six, and Padilla made two free throws to restore the eight-point lead with 18 seconds left. BSU made two final free throws with Hargrove splitting free throws with eight seconds left for the final points of the game.
It was the first time that UNM won a game after trailing after the third quarter.
UNM outscored BSU 23-15 in the final quarter, outshooting the Broncos 61.5% to 31.3%. Of the 23 points, 16 came in the paint and Antonio scored seven on 3-3 shooting.
With the win, the Lobos improve to 9-3 on the season and 1-0 in conference. The Lobos head to UNLV for their next MW game on Saturday, Dec. 20.