Luck’s not with ladies lately

The UNM women’s basketball team has been in a funk lately.

Plagued by another poor shooting performance, the Lobos dropped their fifth straight game, a 59-51 decision to UNLV on Saturday at The Pit. In front of 8,111 fans, UNM started the game shooting 1-for-20 in the first 11:45, while UNLV jumped out to a 19-9 first-half advantage.

Head coach Don Flanagan said his team’s poor shooting was uncharted water that he had never seen before.

“I never see the team shoot like that until game time,” Flanagan said. “All of a sudden in the game, we throw it up there and hope it goes in. I’ve coached some poor-shooting teams, but this team shoots well in practice.”

The Lobos dropped to 6-11 overall and 0-5 in Mountain West Conference action. Meanwhile, the Rebels improved to 9-11 overall and 2-4 in conference.

The Lobos slowly chipped away at the Rebels’ lead by hitting 11-of-13 free throws in the first half. They entered the locker room down 31-23. Finding itself down by as much as 14 points in the second half, UNM pulled within two with 12:28 remaining.

Flanagan’s pep talk during the break lit a fire under the Lobos, and they opened the first half on a 17-9 run to close within two.
But UNM could not sustain the momentum, and UNLV went on an 11-2 run of its own.

The Rebels hit clutch free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

The Lobos were 4-of-25 from long range during the game, and the Rebels held a 54-43 advantage on the boards. UNM shot a dismal 24 percent from the field.

“I think if we can shoot 35 percent from the field, we’ll win five more games,” Flanagan said. “But right now, we’re the worst team in the conference. And that’s unfortunate.”

Freshman Caroline Durbin was the Lobos’ only bright spot.
She posted a career-high 12 points to lead UNM in scoring. Senior Amanda Best chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
“Right now we just need to focus on the next game,” Durbin said.

*Score box
UNLV 59
UNM 51

Women’s basketball vs. TCU
Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
Fort Worth, Texas *