It looked very much in doubt about midway through the first quarter, but the University of New Mexico women's basketball team turned up the defensive intensity to shift things in its favor and won its fifth straight game by taking down UTEP at Dreamstyle Arena on Wednesday.
New Mexico (6-1) was down early, struggling to take care of the ball and, even when it was able to do so, couldn't seem to put the ball in the hoop.
UTEP had no such trouble.
The Miners connected on six of their first seven attempts from the field, with Zuzanna Puc leading the charge with eight points (all off layups) to jump out to a 13-2 lead with 4:51 remaining in the first quarter. Conversely, the Lobos missed six of their first seven shots and committed a couple of early turnovers in that same time frame.
Another Lobo turnover led to free throw at the other end as UTEP stretched its lead to 13 points with less than four and a half minutes remaining in the period.
But UNM started to figure things out and things got much more congested in the paint. The Lobos limited the Miners to just 14 points for the remainder of the first half and the backcourt tandem of Aisia Robertson and Jaedyn de la Cerda seemed to find another gear while mounting a comeback.
The guards combined to make three layups to get things back to within single digits by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, back-to-back 3's by Jayla Everett and Robertson tied things up at 23 before senior post Jaisa Nunn went to work down low and made a basket to give UNM its first lead, 25-23 with 3:15 remaining before half.
New Mexico started controlling the tempo of the game and saw a much better shot selection as the team made seven of its last eight attempts from the floor to seize a 31-27 halftime advantage.
The Lobos limited the Miners to just 14he Lobos continued to chip away at the lead and snagged the lead by limiting the Miners to just 14 points for the remainder of the first half. Puc led all scorers at the break with 12 points, but Robertson's hot hand saw her pour in 11.
Despite having a solid second half, Puc and the Miners found things much more difficult offensively over the final 20 minutes. Puc and teammate Jordan Jenkins were the only UTEP players to make more than one shot in the second half as the team made just eight shots — two of which were garbage time 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds — while shooting a modest 29.6 percent.
That allowed the Lobos to start creating some distance between them and their opponent on the scoreboard. New Mexico enjoyed its first double-digit lead with 1:31 left in the third quarter after a jumper by Nunn made it 46-35.
UTEP was able to briefly cut the lead to eight early in the fourth quarter before the Lobos put the game away. UNM stretched its lead to as many as 21 points on a couple of occasions and seemingly erased any memory of the slow start.
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New Mexico wound up winning the game by a 69-51 margin to improve to 6-1 on the season. Three Lobos finished scoring in double figure, with Robertson collecting a team-high 20 points. Everett contributed 14 points, while Nunn ended up with 12.
Perhaps one of the most telling statistics, reflected how much the Lobos benefitted once they controlled the tempo — as they ended up with a 34-7 advantage in fast-break points and 23 points off 18 UTEP turnovers.
The Lobos next game will take place on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. in Flaggstaff, Arizona when they take on Northern Arizona.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers basketball and baseball and contributes content for various other sports as well. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Robert_Maler.
