The New Mexico women’s basketball team has a chance to improve its place in the conference standings, as the team hosts Wyoming in its final home game of the season on "senior day."
The Lobos (15-12, 10-6 MW) had an opportunity to knock off the best team in the league, but came up just short against Colorado State on Wednesday, losing 58-55.
The loss has UNM sitting in fourth place in the Mountain West standings, but Wyoming is just a half-game ahead, and a win could improve the seeding for New Mexico in the upcoming conference tournament.
Wyoming (18-8, 10-5 MW) took round one between the schools earlier in the season, defeating New Mexico 68-52 in Laramie, Wyoming on Jan. 21.
The Lobos held a slim 33-30 advantage at halftime, but the Cowgirls dominated in the second half, holding UNM to just six points in the third quarter to surge ahead.
New Mexico junior guard Cherise Beynon and senior center Richelle van der Keijl helped pace the Lobos with 20 points and 14 points, respectively.
But the duo didn’t get much help—as no other player scored in double figures and the bench chipped in a modest four points.
Wyoming also punished New Mexico on the glass—something one of the better rebounding teams in the country hasn’t seen very often. UNM has averaged 46 boards per
The Cowgirls held the Lobos leading rebounder, van der Keijl to just five boards, tied for her lowest output of the season, while junior Wyoming guard Liv Roberts crashed the glass for 15 of them.
The Lobos will likely be eager to show that rebounding output was an anomaly, but have lost three key players due to injury since then—players who averaged a combined 12.6 rebounds per game.
The team’s injury woes have left the roster very thin in terms of depth. Head coach Mike Bradbury said most teams play with a small rotation anyway, but the team reportedly had to call on Devanne Sours of the UNM volleyball team last Saturday to fill the void when a player got sick—though Sours did not end up playing.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
New Mexico has been streaky shooting the ball from beyond the arc this
The Cowgirls are a great 3-point shooting team, and the Lobos will need to limit the damage from Roberts, Marta Gomez, and Taylor Rusk—all of whom have shot 40 percent or better from long range.
Wyoming boasts a healthy 36.9 success rate from the 3-point line as a team, while New Mexico has made a meager 28.0 percent of its long-range shots.
In the first matchup, the Cowgirls went 8-for-18 (44.4 percent) from deep, while the Lobos had a terrible shooting night, going just 4-for-24 (16.7 percent).
New Mexico has a pair of junior guards, Cherise Beynon and Alex Lapeyrolerie, who can heat up from the outside.
Lapeyrolerie has made a combined eight 3-pointers on her way to double-digit scoring performances in the last three games. And Beynon has an active 12-game streak of scoring in double figures, going for a triple-double twice in the last four games.
The home season finale is scheduled to tip-off at 1 p.m. at WisePies Arena. The game will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network and aired on 610 KNML radio.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers football and men’s and women’s tennis. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
