Playing on the road for the first time this season didn’t stop the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team in its tracks.
Instead, the Lobos defeated the UTEP Miners (4-1) in decisive fashion at the Don Haskins Center, 59-35, to improve their record to a still-perfect 8-0 so far this season.
The win, though, wasn’t without the help of 25 UTEP turnovers, which was due in part to the Lobos’ stout defense.
Head coach Mike Bradbury seemed pleased with his team’s defensive showing on Thursday, saying it was a great performance.
“That was unbelievable defense,” Bradbury said in a press release. “Our kids followed the plan. We made it tough on (UTEP).”
The 35 points UTEP was held to was the lowest the Lobos have held as a team to since last season, when Air Force only put up 33 points on UNM.
But it wasn’t just defense either. Senior guard Tesha Buck scored a game-high 19 points on a 7-of-18 shooting night, with five of those shots coming from beyond the arc. She also had three rebounds and three steals to compliment her performance.
Senior guard Cherise Beynon was the only other Lobo to score in double digits, too, as she score 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting performance, with three of those shots coming from range.
Beynon, in fact, started the scoring for the Lobos, hitting two 3-pointers early on, to put her team up 6-2, before another 3 from freshman guard Madi Washington made it 9-2.
The Miners got within two points, 13-11, near the end of the frame, but a 3-pointer courtesy of freshman guard Antonia Anderson led to a Lobo run, which saw her team end the quarter with a 21-13 lead.
From there, UNM’s lead was never in jeopardy, leading by 10 or more points the rest of the game.
The 3 ball, similar to other games, played a big part in the Lobos’ win once again. The team made 12 of their 36 attempts in the game, which was six shy of the record they just created a game ago when they hit 18 3s against Illinois.
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As a whole, though, UNM shot 39.7 percent from the field, while they managed to hold UTEP to an impressive 25 percent shooting night.
Up next for the Lobos is their second matchup against in-state rival New Mexico State, this time in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Tip-off for that game is set for Saturday, Dec 2 at 11 a.m.
Matthew Narvaiz is a senior sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz.
