The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team played like a well-oiled machine on Tuesday evening at the Pit, defeating the Rice Owls 93-73 in the second round of the WNIT.
On both sides of the ball, the Lobos (25-10) executed. Defensively, they forced 22 turnovers, 15 of which were steals. And on offense, their best three scorers played up to par, with junior post Jaisa Nunn leading the way with a team-high 28 points on 11-for-15 from the field. Senior guards Cherise Beynon and Tesha Buck added 20 and 18 points, respectively.
“Defensively, we were really good,” said UNM head coach Mike Bradbury. “They followed the plan almost perfectly. We knew we had to turn (Rice) over, and we were able to do that.”
Bradbury, acknowledging the Lobos’ defensive slump in the third quarter, said Buck, Beynon and Nunn on offense were enough for his team to mitigate any sort of Rice comeback.
Nunn, with her 28 points, climbed over the 1,000 point mark during the game. And the 93 points UNM scored was the most ever for the program in a postseason game.
On the court, and especially on defense, Beynon was a pest that the Owls just couldn’t seem to get rid of. She had a career-high of seven steals in the game, five of which came by halftime.
Buck, on the other hand, was feeling it from beyond the arc, as she hit four 3-pointers on seven attempts. That wasn’t all, though, as she — like Beynon — frustrated the Owls on defense, collecting five steals in the game.
Rice (23-10) opened up the game with the first points of the game, but Nunn quickly responded with a layup to tie things up early on. The Owls then went on a 5-0 run shortly after that to take a 7-2 lead, but the Lobos quickly recouped.
Nearly halfway through the first quarter, Nunn again struck on offense, hitting a layup to tie the game up at nine points apiece. From there, UNM found its groove offensively and, with under two minutes to go in the quarter, freshman guard Madi Washington hit back-to-back 3s to put her team up 19-14 over Rice.
“It’s good when all of them are shooting a good percentage and making the right plays,” Bradbury said of Buck, Beynon and Nunn. “That way we got some balance. When all three are playing well, that really allows Madi (Washington) and AT (Antonia Anderson) to score, too.”
The two 3-pointers, as well as a Nunn jumper with 35 seconds, made it an 8-0 UNM run at the end of the quarter, while putting the team up 21-14 over Rice heading into the second quarter.
UNM kept its defensive approach in the second quarter similar to that in the first quarter, pressuring Rice from one end of the court to the other. In total, the Owls turned it over eight times in the frame and 15 times overall in the half.
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Nunn‘s eight points in the second quarter, as well as the pressure on defense, allowed Rice to score just 11 points in the quarter, while UNM added another 20 points to its lead. By halftime, UNM found itself up 41-25 over the Owls.
The Lobos’ defense fell off a bit in the third quarter, when they forced just one turnover. They also allowed Rice sophomore guard Erika Ogwumike, sister of 2016 WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike, to score 12 points in the third quarter, which included two hands-in-the-face 3s.
Nonetheless, the Lobos were still churning on offense too. A little over six minutes into the quarter, Beynon made a layup to give UNM its first lead of 20 points or more, 57-36. But, Ogwumike followed up with a 3-pointer for Rice to cut that lead down.
That didn’t matter much, though, as UNM still outscored Rice 28-26 in the frame, with Beynon adding eight points and Anderson adding six points each.
Again, Rice played better offensively in the fourth quarter, scoring 22 points in the frame. But UNM, like the quarter before, was a basket ahead of the Owls, scoring 24 points in the fourth quarter.
It was clear the Lobos had no intent of giving up the lead either, especially after Buck hit her second 3-pointer of the fourth quarter. After her follow through, Buck kept her hands in the air, a clear sign that she — as well as her team — were feeling it. UNM went on to claim a 93-73 victory in front of 3,302 fans at the Pit.
“The teams that we play, they don’t get the crowd that we get,” Nunn said of her team’s home court advantage at the Pit. “And so it's just a shock to them and we start hitting shots and it’s just loud…I think it’s very intimidating. We definitely have an advantage here, at home.”
UNM, with its 22 forced turnovers, translated that into 26 points. With Nunn saying she played how she wanted in the post, the Lobos also outscored Rice in the paint, 48-30.
The pace at which UNM plays, too, seemed to have an effect on Rice. The Lobos were able to get 36 points off of the fast break.
For Rice, Ogwumike scored a a game-high 31 points, which included a 4-for-8 night from beyond the arc. She was the only double-digit scorer for her team.
With the win, UNM advanced to the third round of the WNIT, where they will face Texas Christian University. Like their last two games, the Lobos will again host the tournament in Albuquerque.
Tip off for the UNM-TCU matchup is on Thursday, Mar. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Pit.
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 contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz.
