In its last non-conference game of the regular season, the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team will host the Lamar Cardinals on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The matchup between the two squads can be a high-scoring affair — the Lobos rank 12th in the nation for scoring, while Lamar (5-4) is just three spots down at the No. 15 in scoring.
For UNM (11-1), most recently, the squad came off of a loss at Oklahoma, where the team was pummeled in a 105-63 defeat. Before that loss, the Lobos tied a program record for consecutive wins during anytime in a season, winning their first 11 games of the season.
At Oklahoma, though, the Lobos played without starting junior post Jaisa Nunn, who suffered a head injury in their previous game against Navy — a game they won in overtime.
It is unclear, however, when and if Nunn will play against Lamar, though it would be a big help if she did. Even in missing one game, Nunn is still the team’s leading rebounder at 10.5 boards per game. She’s also UNM’s third leading scorer, averaging 14.5 points per game.
But the Lobos’ 11-1 record has also been due in part to the two starting senior guards, Cherise Beynon and Tesha Buck, as they have been potent scorers. Beynon leads the Lobos at 16.8 points per game, as well as a team-high 6.2 assists per game.
Buck, on the other hand, has been UNM’s primary threat from 3, as she’s averaging 15.3 points per game, while shooting a team-high 47.2 percent from there and knocking down another team-high 38 3-pointers this season.
For Lamar, scoring a lot also means posing a bundle of scoring threats. Junior guards Moe Kinard (17 ppg) and Chastadie Barrs (13 ppg) lead the Cardinals in scoring, while freshman guard Jadyn Pimentel is averaging 10 points per game.
Much like the Lobos — and even better — Lamar forces a lot of turnovers defensively. They lead the nation in steals per game at 17.7 and also pose the player with the most steals per game in the nation in Barr, who averages 6.6 steals. Lamar is also second in forced turnovers per game, making teams turn the ball over 27.9 times a game.
The Lobos, on the other hand, average 9.5 steals per game and force an average of 17.8 turnovers.
Tip-off for Wednesday’s game is at 7 p.m. and it can be viewed live on the Mountain West Network.
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.
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