SAN DIEGO, Calif.— The Lobos used a 13-2 run to rally back from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter of Wednesday’s game at San Diego State to tie the game at 47 and trailed 50-47 at the end of the quarter, but the Aztecs outscored the Lobos 23-9 in the fourth quarter for the 73-56 final.
Destinee Hooks led all scorers with 18 points, the 17th time this season reaching double figures and sixth time leading the team in scoring, with Laila Abdurraqib scoring 13 points behind three, three-pointers and was the sixth game scoring double digits.
Both teams entered the game as the top two three-point shooters in the Mountain West, with the Aztecs making 14 three-pointers and the Lobos making eight. The Lobos outrebounded the Aztecs 35-28 (14 offensive rebounds for UNM) with Nayli Padilla leading the team off of the bench with six rebounds.
UNM scored the first five points of the game with the Lobos winning the tip and Cacia Antonio finding Emma Najjuma for a layup five seconds in. Hooks added a three-pointer on the next possession and SDSU missed its first four shots before getting on the board with a three 2:50 in.
An Abdurraqib three put the Lobos up 11-5, which extended to nine at 14-5 on a Padilla three with 2:59 remaining in the quarter. The Lobos led 16-10 at the end of the first with Hooks scoring five points and UNM outshooting SDSU 37.5% to 30.8%.
SDSU responded with a 9-0 run over a span of 2:54 to start the second quarter to take a three-point lead and its first lead of the game. An Abdurraqib jumper off of an Antonio offensive rebound ended the run but a second run of 6-0 put the Lobos in a 25-18 deficit. The Lobos closed within three at 27-24 on a Kaia Foster three before the Aztecs made three consecutive field goals to stretch the margin to nine at 35-26. Hooks closed the quarter with a three-pointer as the Lobos trailed 35-29 at the break with Hooks leading all scorers with 12 points.
An Aztecs three and basket out of the half extended the gap to 11 with Foster hitting a jumper from the free-throw line to start the Lobo scoring. A 6-0 run with an Abdurraqib three cut the gap to five at 45-40, and after an Aztec jumper, an Abdurraqib layup, Jessie Joaquim layup off of an offensive rebound and a Drew Jordon three tied the game at 47 with 44 seconds left. SDSU hit a corner three to close the quarter with the Lobos trailing 50-47.
Abdurraqib scored eight points in the third quarter on 3-4 shooting including two three-pointers with the bench scoring 15 of UNM’s 18 points in the quarter.
SDSU scored the first five points of the fourth to take the 55-47 lead with 8:19 remaining to force a Lobo timeout, with Alyssa Hargrove hitting a jumper out of the timeout. A 13-3 SDSU run extended the deficit to 16 points at 68-52 with Padilla making a layup, the Aztecs scoring five consecutive points to stretch the margin to 19 before Joana Magalhães made the final shot for the Lobos on a layup with 26 seconds left for the final score.
The Aztecs went 9-11 and 4-5 from three-point range in the fourth quarter with the Lobos going 4-12 and 0-4 from three-point range.
UNM (12-6, 4-3 MW) returns home to host Grand Canyon on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on FS1.