Yvonne Sanchez can’t quite peg why her team struggles to shoot.
She’s not sure if her Lobos are hesitant. She’s not sure if they’re afraid to make a mistake. She’s not sure if the shots aren’t dropping. Whatever the reason, UNM’s lackluster shooting continued Saturday afternoon in a 51-46 loss to San Diego State.
UNM finished the game shooting 30 percent from the field, or 18 of its 60 attempts from the floor. The Lobos opted not to take open looks on several possessions and tried to work the ball inside. Even with 18 offensive rebounds, UNM converted only nine second-chance points.
The Aztecs, however, benefitted from those misses and scored 23 fast-break points – nearly one half of their scoring. Sanchez said she knew the SDSU transition game would be a factor in the game, yet her squad could not find an answer.
“I wish I knew. I really do,” Sanchez said, referring to the shooting woes. “They have open shots. We set them up for open shots. We do everything we can to get the right people the right shots.”
The win snapped a nine-game conference losing streak for the Aztecs (7-15, 2-9 MW) and extended UNM’s recent skid to three games.
The Lobos (11-10, 4-6 MW) took a longer-than-normal cooldown period before Sanchez addressed the media. She said she didn’t do a lot of talking in the locker room; rather, her players did.
“I let them give me the message, actually,” Sanchez said. “I gave them a chance in the locker room to talk amongst themselves. Hopefully they did that a little bit.”
Cherise Beynon, who paced UNM with 13 points, said the players are finding it difficult how to put everything together. For example, Beynon said, several players look to forward Khadijah Shumpert to be the team’s go-to scorer and Sanchez emphasizes Beynon being in that role as well.
Even with that, other players need to become more confident and not fear when they get subbed for miscues or a poor shot, Beynon said. Focusing on the little stuff too much puts players out of the game’s flow, she said.
“It’s an internal thing,” Beynon said. “I can tell you so much that you’ve got to change personally. It’s got to be in yourself that you’re not scared anymore.”
After a tight affair in the first quarter, where UNM led 13-11, San Diego State opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run. The Lobos responded with its own 8-0 run, but those were the only points they scored in the period. SDSU’s Deidra Smith closed out the half with a layup to put the Aztecs up 22-21.
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SDSU again opened the third quarter with another run, this time scoring eight straight points. Alexa Chavez, seeing action for the second time since missing seven games to a tendon injury, opened an 8-0 run to keep pace and the deficit remained one point going into the fourth quarter.
However, SDSU’s zone defense and transition buckets limited UNM again to only eight points in the fourth quarter. The Aztecs contained the Lobos to only three field goals on 13 shots.
“To score eight points in the second and fourth quarters, I mean that’s just not good enough,” Sanchez said.
Making her first start, forward Jaisa Nunn joined Beynon in double figures with 10 points. She missed a double-double by one rebound, pulling down 10.
Guard McKynzie Fort led all shooters with 22 points, many coming in transition, while Ahjaleé Bostick added 14 points. As a team, SDSU shot 44.4 percent (20 of 45).
J.R. Oppenheim is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s basketball and women’s soccer. Contact him at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.
