From one of its best performances of the season to its worst.
After posting a season-high 53 percent shooting Saturday against Colorado State, the UNM women’s basketball team went ice-cold Tuesday, notching a dismal 22 percent from the field en route to a 50-44 home loss to San Diego State.
With the loss, the Lobos fall to 9-14 on the season and 3-8 in Mountain West Conference action. Meanwhile, the Aztecs improve to 11-13 overall and 5-7 in conference.
Head coach Don Flanagan was once again disappointed in his team.
“Usually when you hold a team to 50 points, you’re going to win the game,” he said. “But not when you shoot 22 percent from the field. When you shoot like that, you always have to play catch up, and then you have to start making threes if you want to stay in the game.”
Senior forward Jessica Kielpinski didn’t make any excuses for her team either.
“I didn’t play as tough as I could have,” she said. “Toughness means that we need to go all out. Don’t let them post up. Battle for the post each possession, and we didn’t do that. Against Colorado State, we were doing it every single time. Tonight, we did it half the time, and that’s just not enough.”
It was both teams that had trouble finding the net. San Diego State managed an unspectacular 30 percent shooting for the game and shot just 7 percent from three-point land. Meanwhile, UNM was six-of-23 from long range.
But it was the Aztec’s height and athleticism in the paint that carried them to victory.
“We just couldn’t stop them inside,” Flanagan said. “They were one-of-13 beyond the arc, and we didn’t do a very good job of collapsing down on the ball when they went inside. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have had five bodies in the paint every time they tried to go inside on us.”
UNM jumped out to a 10-7 lead with 12:07 remaining in the first half. But from that point, it was all SDSU. The Aztecs raced to a 27-19 advantage heading into the locker room.
The Lobos came out in the second half with their guns blazing, cutting the lead to three behind a quick 7-0 run. But the Aztecs responded with a 6-0 run of its own.
Later in the second half, freshman forward Morgan Toben and senior forward Amanda Best hit back-to-back threes with 10:33 remaining.
But that was as close as UNM would come, as the Aztecs wasted the shot clock and hit clutch free throws down the stretch for their third-straight conference win.
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“The most aggressive team won the game,” Flanagan said. “They were stronger. They were the more physical team. They played harder than we did. That’s what happens if you let someone come into your building and play harder than you. You’re probably going to get beat.”
The only player to score in double digits was UNM’s freshman guard Jasmine Patterson, who posted a game-high 10 points. Junior forward Porche Torrance had eight points, 11 boards, five blocks and three steals.
“I’m proud that the team didn’t give up,” Flanagan said. “It’s a rebuilding year. I’m confident we’re going to have some pretty strong basketball players by the end of the season.”
