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Sophomore guard Cherise Beynon breaks away to the net Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at WisePies Arena. The Lobos will play San Jose State this Saturday at 3 p.m..
Sophomore guard Cherise Beynon breaks away to the net Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 at WisePies Arena. The Lobos will play San Jose State this Saturday at 3 p.m..

Women's Basketball: Sanchez tightening the bench with new look

The days of getting everyone into the game is over.

New Mexico head coach Yvonne Sanchez said she has given players opportunities to take advantage of, but simply haven’t gotten it done.

“You can’t play scared,” Sanchez said. “If you get taken out, you get taken out. So what? If you miss a shot, you miss a shot.”

Sanchez said the lack of self-assurance has given her a shorter list of players to call on. That rang true in UNM’s 73-70 victory over Utah State as only seven players received more than 10 minutes of playing time.

“I have to be careful on the subs,” Sanchez said. “I shortened the bench a great deal, especially in the second half.”

Sanchez said her squad was able to gut out a win despite trailing by seven points with less then six minutes of regulation.

In her postgame press conference Wednesday night, Sanchez said the Lobos were able to win because they had opportunities outside of its two normal go-to players. Normally Cherise Beynon and Khadijah Shumpert are the backbone and first look players down the stretch.

That was not the case on Wednesday, and Sanchez said she is going to stick with the mentality of subbing in the players with the most confidence. The head coach said she’s seen lack of conviction tear good teams apart.

“To be honest, you either get out of it or it’s almost impossible,” Sanchez said. “I’ve seen teams go one way or another with it. For us, we had to stay positive and help them through it.”

The Lobos (12-10, 5-6 MW) are nowhere near out of the woods yet despite taking down Utah State to snap a three game losing slide.

However, Sanchez said she thinks her team is heading on the right track and she will continue to come out with a big lineup of 6 foot 3 inch center Jaisa Nunn and forward/guard Jaisa Bovero in the starting lineup.

The head coach has dabbled with different looks all season long trying out two point guards and filtering in different posts. Sanchez likes the look of the starting five she has put in the past two games.

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The new starting five will face a big test in a San Jose State squad that has climbed the ranks of the Mountain West on the foundation of a three game winning streak.

The Spartans (9-14, 7-5 MW) sit in sole possession of fourth place, 1.5 games above the seventh place Lobos.

“They’re scary. They’re scary,” Sanchez said. “We have to play disciplined.”

Sanchez said in Thursday’s press conference that she liked the way the two teams matched up the last visit, but added the Spartans are a different team and they are at home.

In the last meeting, the Lobos came out to a roaring start going on a 22-6 run at the end of the first quarter. Sanchez said it isn’t likely her squad will be able to hold the number one scoring offense to just six points in a quarter.

New Mexico does have the third best scoring defense in the league, but will likely have to play with the same sort of pressure they found success with against Utah State in order to slow down the fast-paced Spartans.

Tipoff is scheduled Saturday at 3 p.m. MT.

Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers volleyball, women’s basketball, baseball, and beach volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.

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