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After struggling to sink shots in its first-round loss in the Thanksgiving Tournament, New Mexico rebounded to take third place with a 73-55 victory over Southeastern Missouri on Saturday at The Pit.
The weekend started off less positively though, as Binghamton (1-5) upset UNM (3-4) 58-53 in the first round on Friday for its first win of the season.
The Lobos shot an impressive 51.1 percent from the field on Saturday night, defeating SEMO (2-6).
“A good comeback game after a disappointing game,” Lobo head coach Yvonne Sanchez remarked. “I’m proud of our players.”
UNM dominated the paint despite missing its starting senior forward, Deeva Vaughn. The Lobos outscored the Red Hawks 38-20.
Sanchez would not remark on Vaughn’s injury any more than that she had a headache and was feeling nauseous.
“I thought our posts went in there and did what they had to do,” Sanchez said.
New Mexico came out strong in the first half, getting a lead and never letting it go. Sophomore forward Khadijah Shumpert led the way with the game-high 20 points and a career high with four total blocks on the night.
“We had a team meeting and said ‘We can never let this happen again,’” Shumpert said. “We talked about it and came out with a new attitude.”
The Lobos started the game off with a 9-0 run. SEMO contested that run with one of its own, but could never find its groove offensively, often throwing up shots that would slam off of the backboard.
UNM fed off the Red Hawks’ poor shot selection and sparked a lead that would grow to 20 in the first half, the largest lead of the game.
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The second half was a different story for UNM. Foul trouble plagued UNM in the final 20 minutes of play as SEMO began a run in the second half.
It seemed as though the Lobos could not get the ball up the court against the full-court press of the Red Hawks. SEMO had 17 points off of Lobo turnovers, cutting the deficit to single digits.
“We just have to slow down,” Sanchez said. “Once we did that and got to the free throw line … That’s what we needed to do.”
When the Lobos were able to get to the foul line themselves, the Red Hawks were unable to keep the game close. UNM hit 23 of the 32 possible free throws, marking a season-high for the Lobos.
The Lobos added to their lead at the end, staying out of foul trouble and taking advantage of the Red Hawks’ inability to keep their opponents away from the charity stripe.
“We have a lot to work on, especially defensively,” Sanchez said. “We’ve got a good team and I like what we did.”
