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Despite a stagnant offense down the stretch, the UNM women’s basketball team still had one last chance to knock off UNLV.
With six seconds remaining, freshman point guard Bryce Owens let loose a jumper from 10 feet, but the ball clanked off the front side of the rim. UNLV sophomore guard Briana Charles then grabbed the rebound and dribbled out the clock to give the Rebels a 58-57 victory over the Lobos at The Pit on Saturday.
Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said Owens’ last-second attempt was rushed.
“I think Bryce was a little bit surprised that she was so wide open. People should’ve been trailing her and they didn’t, in some respect,” Sanchez said. “The kid tried to make a play and I’m not going to fault her for that.”
The Lobos’ offense disappeared in the final five minutes, going 1 of 10 from the field. Sanchez said the team’s shot selection was questionable because players were taking more difficult attempts than they needed to.
“I thought we had open shots, but people wanted to create something different,” she said. “We had looks, but for whatever reason they dismissed those looks and went into the heart of the defense.”
UNM got ahead 55-49 after junior forward Deeva Vaughn hit a jumper with 5:16 left in the game. UNLV’s senior guard Kelli Thompson answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 55. The Rebels then took the lead again when freshman center Amie Callaway hit 1 of 2 free throws to give UNLV a 56-55 edge with 3:28 remaining.
Freshman post Whitney Johnson responded with a layup to bring UNM up to 57 points with 1:36 to go.
The Rebels (9-14, 5-4 MWC) regained the lead when Thompson hit two free throws after getting fouled, going up to 58-57 with 11 seconds in the game. Owens then launched her off-the-mark last-second attempt.
The Lobos outscored the Rebels in points in the paint (38-12), second chance (15-5), bench points (11-6) and fast break (10-4).
At the free-throw line, UNLV made 13 of 16 attempts, compared to UNM’s 4 of 6 effort. Sanchez said nobody on the squad has the ability to get to the charity stripe regularly.
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“The problem is, and it’s been our Achilles’ heel all year long, we’re not getting to the free-throw line,” she said. “We don’t have kids right now that can create and get there, and our posts are doing a nice job, but they’re young in some respects and they’re just not getting those fouls.”
Thompson came into the contest averaging 18.2 points per game to pace the MWC. Against the Lobos, Thompson managed 29 points on 7 of 24 shooting and grabbed eight boards. Sanchez said Thompson hurt the Lobos (12-10, 4-5) mostly by getting to the charity stripe where she went 10 of 11.
“We put her to the line too much and I knew she wasn’t going to miss,” Sanchez said. “Thompson is a good player and if you let her take advantage of your missed opportunities and your defensive assignments, she’s going to.”
For the game, UNM shot 38.5 percent (25-65), compared to UNLV’s 30.5 percent (18-59). The Rebels were far better from beyond the arc, hitting 42.9 percent (9-21), while the Lobos hit 16.7 percent (3-18). UNM outrebounded UNLV 43-39.
Johnson had a team-high 12 points, and senior guard Caroline Durbin finished second with 10 points but 4 of 13 shooting.
