The winter air blowing through The Pit couldn’t even explain the Lobos’ cold shooting on Thursday.
UNM shot just 9-31 in the first half and was only 32.2 percent from the field for the game in its 54-61 loss to the University of Northern Colorado (UNC).
“It was a disappointing game all around,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “We didn’t have the same fire and energy that we have had for other games. We are all as a team pretty disappointed with our performance.”
The Lobos made their first two 3-pointers from junior guard Caroline Durbin and senior guard Nikki Nelson, and took an early 9-7 lead just over three minutes into the game, but that would be the last time they would be winning in the contest.
UNC then went on a 20-7 run and took a 35-24 lead in to halftime. The Bears shot an impressive 65 percent from the field in the first half and had the edge in nearly every statistical category.
Sanchez said allowing them to score that much in the first half was a bad performance for her team.
“I thought we didn’t have much energy and they came in and shot the ball well and did some really good things,” she said. “At halftime they had 35 points and that was way too much.”
The Lobos were outrebounded 46-32 in the game, including 29-14 on the defensive end. UNC had 20 points off of its 17 offensive rebounds.
Junior guard Jourdan Erksine had her second career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. She said the team wasn’t playing fundamental basketball and was a major reason in why UNM was outrebounded.
UNC continued to run the game in the second half and took a commanding 15 point with 12:55 remaining in the game.
With 6:57 left, freshman guard Jaimer Parker banked in a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to nine. The basket was the first for Parker in her Lobo career, who walked on to the team last week, after injuries have limited Sanchez to just eight healthy players for some games this season.
Sanchez said Parker’s play was instrumental down the stretch as the Lobos cut the deficit down to just six with 34 seconds remaining, but couldn’t find a way to win.
UNC had four players play over 34 minutes, and didn’t get a single point from the bench, while UNM had 19.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Senior guard Lauren Taylor finished with 12 points, but was just 4-15 from the field, while Durbin was 3-11 shooting finishing with 10 points.
The Lobos are now 3-7 and have lost four of its last five games. Sanchez said the team can’t get down on itself and will refocus for MWC play when it starts on Jan.11, when the Lobos take on Boise State.
“The non-conference season is almost over,” she said. “We have three games left and then we hit the conference and that’s when we start 0-0 again. We can’t get ourselves down and we can’t get discouraged. There is still plenty of basketball left.”
