Nothing was falling in place for the Lobos in the first half as the team went into the locker room trailing 28-19. A halftime speech from head coach Yvonne sparked a fire among her unit, and the Lobos stopped committing silly turnovers in the second half.
“I told my leaders Antiesha (Brown), Khadijah (Shumpert) and Bryce (Owens), I challenged them at halftime,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “They responded. I am really proud of those three because everyone kind of jumped on their back and said ‘We’re with you.’”
UNM (9-10, 5-3 Mountain West) was not forcing tightly contested shots as the team shot 50 percent from the field in the second half — far better than the 28.1 field goal percentage of the first.
After just two first-half points, junior guard Owens willed her way to finish the game with 14 points, the team-high. She said that defensively the Lobos gained a lot of energy from the team’s ability to force pressure when playing press coverage before Wyoming could cross half court.
“Our shots were going in the second half and they weren’t so much in the first half,” Owens said. “We got the ball inside a lot more, and then luckily our jumpers were hitting.”
UNM outscored Wyoming 41-26 in the second half, but the game came right down to the wire.
With a 54-52 lead, Owens scored a layup in heavy Wyoming traffic. A missed layup by Wyoming’s star guard, Marquelle Dent, wound up in the hands of fellow guard Jordan Kelley to bring the game back within one possession 56-54.
With the shot clock dwindling, redshirt senior guard Brown came storming across the court, stopping on a dime and sinking one of her signature pull-up jumpers with 40 seconds left in the game.
“I didn’t really think about missing it,” Brown said. “It’s kind of my bread and butter. I love going to the left and popping back and taking that shot.”
Dent looked to match Brown’s score, but her jumper rattled off the rim and into the hands of Owens, who hit one of her two free throws.
Wyoming looked to hit another jump shot to bring the game back within a single possession, but Dent’s shot yet again fell into the hands of Owens for her sixth and final rebound.
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The Lobos knew Wyoming (7-10, 2-5 MW) had the ability to score from every area on the court, but they limited the Cowgirls’ production to the team’s two premier scorers, Dent and Kayla Woodward. The forward finished the contest with the game-high 19 points.
Aside from Woodward’s 19- and Dent’s 17-point performances, not a single Cowgirl scored more than six points.
“We have to hang our hat on our defense,” Sanchez said. “Any time you can hold them in the 50s, you’ve got a great chance.”
UNM remains in fourth place in a tight Mountain West race. Sanchez said the Lobos need to keep winning to distance themselves from the tight clump of potential contenders.
“Hopefully we have a chance to separate ourselves from those underneath us,” Sanchez said. “Every win we can get, we can separate ourselves.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo or on twitter @Liam_CE.
