LAS VEGAS – There was no net cutting for the New Mexico women’s basketball team at the Thomas & Mack Center.
After a 1-7 start to the season, there wasn’t many who thought that the Lobos would be in a position to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Reaching the Mountain West Basketball Championship game put UNM in a position to earn an automatic bid to NCAAs, but UNM missed that chance following 66-60 defeat to Boise State in the Friday’s title bout.
“I’m proud of this team. This is just a tremendous group,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “They exceeded everybody’s expectations but ours in that locker room because we wanted some special things this year, and I think we got it done.”
UNM never led Boise State in their third meeting this season. One reason why is that the second-seeded Lobos had trouble corralling defensive rebounds. Boise State outrebounded UNM 39-31, including a 19-15 edge in offensive rebounds.
However, those boards didn’t lead to many second chance points for the Broncos as they only scored 10 points. More importantly, the offensive rebounds by the Broncos (22-10) forced the Lobos (20-12) to defend for multiple possessions on several occasions.
“With that being said, I think they went hard and they went for the boards,” UNM forward Khadijah Shumpert said. “We know next year coming into it, we have to work harder, can’t give up boards. That’s something we talked about as a team we needed to do and didn’t get done.”
Shumpert and guard Antiesha Brown combined to score two-thirds of UNM’s points. Brown finished with a season-high 23 points on 7 of 18 shooting, while Shumpert had 17 points. The two also went a combined 19 of 19 from the free throw line.
Every time the Lobos needed a bucket in the second half, Brown was the one to score. She earned Mountain West All-Tournament Team honors after averaging 19.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in three games.
“She tried to put the team on her back and will this team to a win,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “That’s why she’s a senior. That’s why she’s a leader. That’s why she’s going to be playing beyond college.”
UNM never got into a rhythm offensively. The Lobos hit just 5 of 21 attempts in the first half and went 11 of 31 in the second half for a 30.8 shooting percentage. The Broncos didn’t do much better shooting 36.7 percent for the game.
Lobo starting guards Cherise Beynon and Bryce Owens went 1 of 10 and 1 of 9, respectively, from the field. Beynon also went 6 of 9 from the charity stripe as UNM went 25 of 28.
“I think Boise State did a terrific job of taking us out of our offense. We just weren’t cutting very hard. We weren’t making contact on screens,” Brown said. “They just out-played us. They took us out of our rhythm. We just didn’t just didn’t hit ‘em back.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
In the second half, the No. 4 seed Broncos extended their lead to 14 points after a 3-pointer from MW tournament MVP Brooke Pahukoa. Boise State led by double digits for most of the final 20 minutes.
UNM did manage to cut the deficit to six points a couple of times down the stretch but never was in a position to take the lead. The Broncos seemed to always come up with an opportune bucket when it looked like the Lobos were going to go on a run.
“They never gave up. They never quit,” Sanchez said. “It’s like Antiesha said, we have the philosophy if there’s still time on the floor, there’s still time you can win the basketball game.”
Guard Yaiza Rodriguez, who also made the MW All-Tournament Team, paced the Broncos with 18 points, hitting 5 of 10 shots. Pahukoa had 16 points and five boards; forward Miquelle Askew scored 12 points.
The Lobos shot 3 of 12 (25 percent) from beyond the arc. The Broncos went 8 of 22 (36.4 percent) from behind the 3-point line and hit 22 of 31 (71 percent) free throws.
Fresno State forward Alex Sheedy and San Jose State guard Rebecca Woodberry also made the MW All-Tournament team.
Boise State is heading to the NCAA Tournament as the Mountain West representative for the first time. The Broncos last reached the NCAAs in 2007 as a member of the Western Athletic Conference.
Thomas Romero-Salas is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
