ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos got back in the win column Wednesday night following a 66-61 win over San José State, led by a game-high 19 points from Laila Abdurraqib.
Abdurraqib was one of three Lobos to finish in double figures, joined by Joana Magalhães and Destinee Hooks, who each scored 12 points. For Abdurraqib, it was the second time leading the team in scoring this season and her made five three-pointers were the second most the freshman has made in a game this season.
UNM’s bench finished with 31 points with the Lobos scoring 19 points off of second-chance opportunities from 19 offensive rebounds. UNM had the 44-30 edge in rebounds with Cacia Antonio and Jessie Joaquim leading with nine each. Of Joaquim’s nine rebounds, eight were on the offensive end, including a critical one with 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter in a five-point game.
The Lobos forced a shot clock violation on SJSU’s first possession with Magalhães scoring on UNM’s end 54 seconds in. The Lobos made three of their first four shots, including two three-pointers for the 8-5 lead three minutes in, and led 9-7 midway through the quarter with Magalhães accounting for six of the points.
SJSU tied the game at 12 on a three-pointer with the Lobos closing on a 9-3 run in the final 1:19, including two Abdurraqib three-pointers for the 21-15 lead through the first quarter. Magalhães and Abdurraqib each scored nine points with Abdurraqib going 3-3 from three-point range and Magalhães 3-3 from the floor as UNM shot 58.3% as a team from the floor.
Joaquim’s first offensive rebound of the game led to a layup to begin the second quarter scoring and extend the lead to eight, with the lead reaching eight four separate times. A Kaia Foster jumper gave UNM the 30-22 lead with 5:36 on the clock, however, an 8-0 Spartan run in the span of 51 seconds tied the game at 30. A jumper by Hooks ended the run and gave the Lobos back the lead with the Spartans answering with four consecutive points for what amounted to a 12-2 run to take the 34-32 lead with 1:23 left. An Antonio offensive board and layup tied the game at 34, which held at the half, the first time this season being tied at the half.
Magalhães had 12 points in the first 20 minutes to lead all scorers, going 4-5 from the floor and 2-2 from behind the arc, the sixth time reaching double digits this season. UNM is 5-1 when Magalhães scores 10-plus points.
Hooks gave the Lobos the lead with a basket to start the third quarter with Antonio making a fast-break layup off of a Hargrove steal and assist to push the lead past a possession. A three-pointer by Hooks pushed the lead to five at 41-36, putting the Lobo guard in double figures for the 22nd time this season.
An Abdurraqib three-pointer stretched the lead to seven with each team trading three pointers. Nayli Padilla’s three put the Lobos up 49-42 with the Spartans narrowing the margin to three at 51-48.
UNM led 54-50 at the end of the third with Hooks scoring seven points and adding two assists in the third quarter.
The Lobos scored the first six points of the final quarter behind an Abdurraqib three and Antonio three that pushed the lead to their largest point of 10 at 60-50 with 5:21 left. The Lobo defense held the Spartans 5:17 without a point with an Emma Najjuma offensive rebound and putback restoring the lead to 10 with less than four minutes left.
A 5-0 SJSU run cut the lead in half with 53 seconds left, with an Abdurraquib three-point miss with 26 left leading to a Joaquim offensive rebound to keep the ball in UNM’s possession. Forced to foul to extend the game, Alyssa Hargrove made two free throws with 14 seconds left for the 64-57 Lobo lead. However, the Spartans scored four points in the span of five seconds to make it a one-possession game with three seconds left. Abdurraqib drew the foul with 0.7 seconds left and made both for the final score.
With the win, the Lobos improve to 17-8 on the season, 9-5 in conference. UNM remains at home to host Colorado State on Saturday at 1 p.m.