BOISE, Idaho – The Lobos remain on the road to face Boise State on Saturday afternoon with tip set for 1 p.m. on the Mountain West Network.
Both teams enter the game on winning streaks as UNM is 16-7 (8-4 MW) and has won its last four games while Boise State is 18-5 (9-3 MW) and has won its last eight games. The Lobos are 6-3 in road games with the Broncos 12-1 in home games.
SERIES HISTORY
The Lobos are 12-18, 3-11 in Boise, but have won the last two games in the series. UNM won the first meeting to open Mountain West play, 70-63, jumping out to a 17-4 lead in the first quarter. 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. UNM scored 50 points in the paint and outscored the Broncos 17-4 in fast-break points.
Joana Magalhães led with 16 points, one of four Lobos to reach double digits. Alyssa Hargrove scored 12 points and Destinee Hooks and Cacia Antonio each finished with 11 points.
FAST START
UNM is outscoring opponents 374-287 (+87) in the first quarter, 413-347 (+66) in the second quarter and 787-634 (+153) in the first 20 minutes.
In the conference opener, the Lobos scored the first 14 points against Boise State with six different Lobos contributing to the points, and against Wyoming, the Lobos scored the first 10 points of the game. Against UNLV, the Lobos built a 13-2 lead behind a 10-0 run with the Lobos making five of their first seven shots. Against Utah State, the Lobos used a 9-0 run to lead 9-2 and closed the first quarter on a 6-0 run to build a 12-point lead.
Further, UNM held Wyoming (5), Boise State (4), San José State (4), Nevada (9), UNLV (9) and Utah State (7) to single digits in the first quarter and held San José State (8), Colorado State (2) and Wyoming (8) to single digits in the second quarter.
WIN THE QUARTER
The second quarter is UNM’s largest quarter for point production at 413 points, followed by the third quarter (404 points), with the first quarter the largest margin of +87.
UNM has outscored its opponent in the first quarter 14 times, the second quarter in 11 games this season, the third quarter 13 times and the fourth quarter 14 times.
The Lobos have also held their opponent below 10 points in a quarter in 13 games this season. The Lobos held the Cowgirls to single digits in two quarters in the first meeting, the first time doing it twice in a game this season, and repeated it the next game against San José State. Against Utah State, the Lobos held the Aggies to single digits in three quarters.
Six times, the Lobos have held their opponent below 20 points at the half: 19 points (Wyoming), 18 points (Utah State), 12 points (San José State), 15 points (New Mexico State), 17 points (Chicago State) and 18 points (UT Martin).
UNM is 12-2 when leading after the first quarter, 16-1 when leading at the half and 14-1 when leading after the third quarter.
60-70
While the trend right now is 6-7 and scoring 67 points, for the Lobos the trend is 60-70.
UNM is 12-0 when allowing 60 points or less (7-0 in conference), including holding five opponents below 50 points and four teams to 45 points or fewer. UNM is also 10-1 when scoring 70 or more points.
BENCH WORK
On the season, the bench has scored 596 points, accounting for 37.6% of the points. UNM is 31st in the NCAA and leads the MW in bench points per game (25.9).
Laila Abdurraqib has led the bench in scoring in nine games, Nayli Padilla eight times, Jessie Joaquim twice, Destinee Hooks, Kaia Foster, Joana Magalhães and Drew Jordon once.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Boise State leads the conference with 72.1 points per game, three-point percentage (40.0%) and assists per game (16.4) and has three players averaging double figures in Tatum Thompson (14.3), Dani Bayes (13.9) and Natalie Pasco (12.7). Thompson leads the MW in field goal percentage (46.6%), Mya Hansen leads the conference in assists per game (4.7) and Pasco (2.5) and Bayes (2.0) are first and second, respectively, in three-pointers per game.
In conference games, BSU is scoring 71.1 points per game while allowing 63.3 and leads the conference in three-point percentage (39.1%), three-point field goal defense (26.8%) and assists per game (15.8).
Four Broncos are averaging double figures in conference play led by Bayes (13.3 ppg), followed by Thompson (12.8 ppg), Libby Hutton (11.9 ppg) and Pasco (10.8 ppg). BSU has started the same five in all 12 MW games in Bayes, Thompson, Hutton, Pasco and Hansen.