ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos closed the regular season with their strongest shooting performance of the season, shooting 60.7% and outscoring Fresno State in three of the quarters in the 86-64 win Tuesday night.
Not only was it a season high for shooting percentage, the last time a Lobo team had shot 60% or better was Nov. 9, 2001. UNM shot over 70% in two quarters and over 57% in three of the four quarters Tuesday, doing most of their damage in the paint with 46 of the 86 points in the paint.
UNM also outrebounded the Bulldogs 34-29 and led in steals (7-4), blocks (2-1), points off turnovers (12-9), fast-break points (6-4) and points from the free-throw line (13-4). The Lobos also led for 38:26 and trailed for just 29 seconds in the first quarter.
Destinee Hooks led the Lobos with 22 points, scoring 15 of her points between the first two quarters, while Joana Magalhães scored 19 points, 12 of which came in the final two quarters. Cacia Antonio was the third Lobo to finish in double figures, nearly registering a double-double with 13 points to go with a team-high nine rebounds. It was the third time in the last four games that Antonio has finished with nine rebounds.
Nayli Padilla led the Lobos off the bench with right points, going a perfect 3-3 from the floor with two three-pointers.
Antonio opened the scoring with two free throws on UNM’s second possession 49 seconds in. Fresno State made one of its first five shot attempts with UNM making one of its first six shot attempts as UNM led 4-3 in the first 2:30. FS’s second three-pointer put the visitors in front 6-4, but Alyssa Hargrove’s layup tied the game and started what amounted to a 12-0 run to build a 16-6 lead.
The Bulldogs cut the margin to five before the Lobos closed the quarter on a 4-0 run behind a Magalhães jumper and two Emma Najjuma free throws for the 21-12 lead.
UNM shot 43.8% behind seven points from Hooks in the opening quarter with 10 of the points coming from six Bulldog turnovers.
After FS opened the second quarter with a layup, UNM scored the next five points to stretch the lead to 12 with the Bulldogs closing to within five at 30-25 midway through. Back-to-back three-pointers from Hooks 32 seconds apart provided some cushion with the lead building to 13 (40-27) on a Padilla jumper with 1:48 left. Like the first quarter, the Lobos closed with the final four points on layups by Magalhães and Jessie Joaquim for the 44-29 lead. The Lobos made their last four shots and eight of their last nine shot attempts.
Hooks scored 15 on 6-9 shooting and 2-3 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes, and as a team, UNM shot 71.4% (10-14) in the second quarter for a 56.7% between the first two quarters.
The run continued at the start of the third quarter with Hooks and Magalhães extending UNM’s lead to 19 1:30 in with the Bulldogs getting as close as 12 points three separate times. Each time the Lobos answered to prevent the Bulldogs from getting closer, and extended the lead to 16 on a Hooks’ layup with 3:30 remaining. However, the Bulldogs dwindled the gap down to 10 points with 1:19 on the clock before a Laila Abdurraqib floater closed the quarter with a 12-point Lobo lead of 60-48.
An Abdurraqib layup and Padilla three-pointer pushed the lead back to 17 with the lead growing to 20 on an Antonio layup that gave the Lobo double figures. The Bulldogs closed to within 16 points before a 7-0 run that included a three-point play from Hargrove and four points from Magalhães gave UNM its largest lead of the game at 23 (82-59) with 2:45 to play. A 5-0 Bulldog run was answered by a 4-0 Lobo run to close the game for the 22-point victory.
The Lobos scored 26 points in the fourth quarter, shooting a game-high 75.0% from the floor, shooting 65.4% in the final 20 minutes.
With the win, the Lobos have won their last five games and six of their last seven, and close the regular season 22-9, 14-6 in conference. The Lobos await their matchup in the conference tournament.