The No. 23 UNM women's basketball team was derailed Wednesday at The Pit by San Diego State, 57-52.
The loss snapped an 11-game home winning streak for the Lobos and knocked UNM down to 14-3 overall and 3-1 in the Mountain West Conference.
"We just never got our offense going," head coach Don Flanagan said. "It is pretty disappointing our offense would stagnate like that."
SDSU center Paris Johnson had 11 rebounds for the Aztecs, including a game-defining one off a missed free-throw by Jennifer Layton-Bailes.
With four seconds to go and the Lobos down 55-52, UNM's Angela Hartill fouled Jennifer Layton-Bailes, setting her up for a one-and-one at the free-throw line.
Bailes missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Johnson swooped in and corralled the ball. She was fouled and made both free throws to close out the game.
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"Defensively, I thought we were decent," Flanagan said. "We were right about where we want to. They are a tough team to defend; they have lots of shooters, scorers and drivers. They were patient and got better shot selection than we did."
The Aztecs were clearly not intimidated by the fans inside The Pit and played one of the better defensive efforts against the Lobos this year.
SDSU came into the game forcing nearly 24 turnovers a game. Early on, it looked like the Aztecs would maintain that average, as the Lobos committed 11 turnovers in the first half and finished the game with 16.
"We are not killing ourselves on turnovers necessarily," Flanagan said. "We are killing ourselves on offense by not cutting, not moving, not screening and shooting open shots."
Beggin finished the night with the only two trey balls for the Lobos - but a crucial 3-point attempt was blocked with the Lobos down three late in the game.
UNM came in shooting 35.4 percent from 3-point land but shot 18.2 percent from the field against the Aztecs.
"This is a lesson and tomorrow (we need to) go in and work hard," Amanda Best said. "I think it is going to teach us to do the little things correctly. Hopefully, we can focus on doing stuff in practice so we can be prepared to play them or anybody else."
Women's basketball vs. TCU
Sunday, 3 p.m.
The Pit
