School record...broken.
New Mountain West record...set.
With the help of a new conference high 10 made 3-pointers in a game by senior guard Tesha Buck, the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team defeated Lamar soundly at Dreamstyle Arena, 90-58, in the team’s last non-conference appearance of the regular season.
Despite shattering records, Buck was a sniper from range, hitting 10-of-16 shots from beyond the arc, while also adding one more record broken to her performance: the most points in a game in UNM (12-1) history. Buck scored 40 points, surpassing her teammate junior post Jaisa Nunn’s then-record-breaking 39 points against Marquette.
“My teammates got me, the ball and like coach said, when it’s open 2s or 3s, he expects me to make them, and I expect to make them all too, so it was just a good night, and I was just feeling it,” Buck said in a UNM press release. “I think the first few points just felt really good — they were all coming off my fingers well. They all felt good and they all looked good. It was all about my teammates passing me the ball and driving and attacking it and making the defense shift.”
Buck got started quick too, scoring 17 of her 40 points in the first quarter alone. Her 17 points were also more than Lamar had scored in the entire quarter, with the Lobos exiting the frame with a 26-16 lead.
It was in the second quarter, though, that UNM managed to grow its lead even more significantly. The Lobos started out the frame on a 12-0 run, with senior guards Alex Lapeyrolerie and Cherise Beynon each scoring six points early on.
The Cardinals (5-5) would go on a 9-0 run in the middle of the second quarter to bring UNM’s lead from 23 to just 14 points. But the Lobos finished out the quarter strong, with Buck scoring seven points in the last 2 1/2 minutes before halftime to give UNM a comfortable 54-29 lead.
By the end of the third quarter, the Lobos managed to outwork the Cardinals again, as they added on to their lead, this time entering the final frame, 75-39.
The fourth quarter was a little more closely contested, but UNM’s lead was already too great for Lamar to make any sort of comeback.
Lapeyrolerie and Beynon had double-digit-scoring performances too. Lapeyrolerie scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting, as well as draining all three of her free throw attempts.
Beynon, however, put together a double-double. She scored 11 points and added 14 assists. She was one assist off of her record of 15 assists in a single game.
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Nunn, after missing a game when she sustained a head injury against Navy, had eight points. She did manage to bring down a game-high 17 rebounds down, though.
UNM shot a season-best 53 percent from the field, while taking a school record 40 3-point attempts; the team made 15 of them.
The Cardinals, on the other hand, shot 28.4 percent from the field, with only one player scoring in double digits. Sophomore forward Kyla Green had 12 points for Lamar on a 4-for-9 shooting night.
Lamar, a team known for forcing turnovers, did just that against UNM. The Cardinals forced 20 in total and had 13 steals, though it wasn’t enough to break the Lobos.
Up next for UNM is the start of Mountain West play. The team will travel to Air Force on Dec. 28 for a 6 p.m. tip-off. The game will be streamed 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.
