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To put it lightly, the UNM women’s basketball team struggled against San Diego State on Saturday at the Pit.
The Lobos shot 34.7 percent (17 of 49) from the field, 22 percent (4 of 18) from the charity stripe and committed 19 turnovers in a 63-39 loss in front of an announced crowd of 7,437.
Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said the Lobos’ (10-8, 2-3 MWC) inexperience hurt them against the senior-laden Aztecs (14-5, 5-1 MWC).
“We’ve got some kids that are afraid to fail,” Sanchez said. “We have to let them know that if they make a mistake, it’s OK. But we have a lot of young kids playing minutes. When they make mistakes, they take themselves out of the game.”
With 1:26 remaining in the first half, New Mexico trailed 28-16 but SDSU put the game out of reach with a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 35-16.
“That was the time we could have made a run. Instead, they made the run. That meant we headed to the locker room at halftime with a really big hole,” Sanchez said. “We just couldn’t recover.”
Junior guard Sara Halasz, who came off the bench, had a team-high nine points and five rebounds. Junior forward Deeva Vaughn provided eight points and three rebounds in 19 minutes.
San Diego State’s senior guards Courtney Clements and Chelsea Hopkins combined for 32 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists and five steals. As a team, the Aztecs shot 49 percent (25 of 51) from the field and hit 75 percent (9-12) of their free throws. Both the Lobos and the Aztecs pulled down 32 rebounds.
Vaughn said the Aztecs’ aura rattled the Lobos’ mental state.
“Them being the Mountain West Champions, I think that startled our team a little bit. We just needed to come out stronger and pick up the momentum,” she said.
Sanchez said she doesn’t know how to cure the Lobos’ shooting woes.
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“Making the team run sprints isn’t going to work. They hit (the shots) during practice and drills we run,” she said. “Our mindset has to change so that we are not afraid to fail.”
