ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos held Air Force to single digits in two quarters of Saturday’s contest and outscored the Falcons 18-6 in the third quarter in the 73-53 victory.
UNM had four finish in double figures, led by Destinee Hooks and Nayli Padilla with 12 points and Jessie Joaquim and Laila Abdurraqib with 11 points. Joaquim tallied her third double-double of the season with a game-high 13 rebounds with the Lobos outrebounding Air Force 47-32. Alyssa Hargrove led the Lobos with a team-high three steals and game-high five assists, also bringing down five rebounds.
The Lobos had the edge in paint points (38-14), second-chance points (10-7), bench points (35-21), fast-break points (5-2) and points off turnovers (9-8) and outshot the Falcons 48.3% to 29.0%.
Getting her first start, Drew Jordon opened the scoring with a basket 24 seconds in and made UNM’s second basket on a layup that tied the game at four. After trading baskets for ties at six and eight, the Lobos held the Falcons the final 3:55 without a basket and scored the final four points on a Joana Magalhães layup off of a Cacia Antonio offensive rebound and a layup by Padilla for the 12-8 lead at the end of the first.
It was the 17th game that UNM has outscored its opponent in the first quarter and the 14th game holding an opponent below 10 points in a quarter.
After Air Force opened the second with a layup, the Lobos went on a 5-0 run behind a layup from Hooks and a Padilla three pointer to stretch the lead to seven before the Falcons whittled the margin down to two at 18-16 on a 6-1 run less than four minutes into the quarter. An Abdurraqib jumper pushed the Lobo lead to five at 22-17 with Air Force answering with consecutive three-pointers to take the lead. Although the lead was temporary as a Joaquim offensive rebound and layup on UNM’s next possession put the Lobos back in front and started a 7-0 run to put the Lobos up 29-23. Air Force closed the quarter on a 5-2 run with the Lobos holding a 31-28 lead at the break.
The Lobos scored the first seven points of the third quarter behind another Joaquim offensive rebound and layup, and a three-pointer and layup by Hooks to build a 38-28 lead four minutes in.
Air Force scored its first point on a free throw with 5:38 left with the Lobos continuing to build its lead to 13 on layups by Joaquim and Antonio. The margin reached 18 on a Padilla steal and fast-break layup followed by an Abdurraqib three-pointer with 39 seconds left with the Falcons making a three-pointer to close the quarter for the 49-34 Lobo lead at the end of the third.
UNM outscored Air Force 18-6 in the quarter, outshooting the Falcons 53.3% to 11.8%. It was the fourth time holding an opponent to single digits in multiple quarters in a game this season.
An Abdurraqib jumper and Antonio three-pointer to start the final quarter stretched the lead to 20, to which Air Force later used an 8-0 run midway through the quarter to cut the gap to 12. However, the Lobos answered that with an 11-0 run of their own over a span of 1:27 to extend their lead to 23 at 67-44, with the lead growing to its largest point of 24 at 72-48 on a Kaia Foster layup with 1:13 left. Air Force closed with a three-pointer and two free throws while Leonor Peixinho split a pair of free throws for UNM’s final point in the 20-point victory.
The Lobos outscored the Falcons 42-25 in the final 20 minutes, leading for 19:26 of it, behind nine points and seven rebounds from Joaquim and nine points and five rebounds from Antonio. Antonio finished with nine points and nine rebounds off of the bench.
UNM returns to the road for its next two games, traveling to Utah State for a Wednesday game and continuing on to Nevada for a game on Saturday.