After a sluggish start, New Mexico’s second half defense propelled the Lobos to a 62-53 victory over San Diego State for their first conference win of the season Wednesday night at WisePies Arena.
UNM came out defensively against SDSU (4-10, 1-2 MW) playing zone, something head coach Yvonne Sanchez said she is kicking herself for.
“The second half we made the adjustment of getting out of the zone,” Sanchez said. “I probably shouldn’t have started in it.”
In the first half, UNM allowed the Aztecs to drive to the basket in a soft zone putting the Lobos in an early 23-10 hole.
New Mexico battled back in the first half to condense the Aztec lead 33-28 going into the locker room.
Sanchez’s second half adjustments induced a much needed physical presence. The Lobos defense was more aggressive without the limitations of being in a zone, holding San Diego State to just 20 points in the second half.
Although SDSU made only four buckets from the field, UNM (5-9, 1-2 MW) got into foul trouble allowing 14 shots from the charity stripe in the second half alone.
Sanchez said a big problem was the Lobos inability to grab the boards on defense.
“We’ve got to clean that up the next time we play them,” Sanchez said. “We were standing in front of them but we weren’t boxing them out.”
Coming into the game UNM outrebounded teams by an average of 1.2. However, against a big physical SDSU team the Lobos could only muster up 31 to the Aztecs 37 rebounds.
A major component to UNM’s lack of rebounds was due to junior forward Khadijah Shumpert’s ankle injury. Shumpert played 20 minutes, but Sanchez said the forward was nowhere close to 100 percent.
“Khadijah with a leg and a half is better than no Khadijah at all,” Sanchez said. “You see what a difference she makes. The kid’s an all-conference player.”
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Shumpert’s large presence inside opened things up for senior guard Antiesha Brown who scored a game-high 21 points. Six of Brown’s 14 second half points came from the line, an area the Lobos struggled from all night.
“Conference wins are short lived just like conference losses,” Brown said. “It feels good to get a W in the win column.”
In addition to Brown’s big night offensively, freshman Cherise Beynon shot well from the field, accumulating 10 points on the night. Sanchez said her freshman guard is getting more comfortable and confident each time she steps onto the court.
“Every game I just try to improve,” Beynon said. “I just take it day by day.”
UNM will have a quick turnaround against a Utah State team that no longer has Stephanie Barstow and Makenlee Williams. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the two left the team for personal reasons but did not explain why.
“They lost their two best players, they both quit in the middle of the year. I don’t know what happened there,” Sanchez said. “I’m not sure who’s doing what for them. They’ve struggled a little bit, but they’re going to play hard.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on twitter @Liam_CE.
