Basketball: Women's basketball misses opportunity to improve to .500 on season

The Lobo women’s basketball team couldn’t end its non-conference schedule with a win, losing to the Marquette Golden Eagles by a score of 62-52 Wednesday afternoon.

Marquette improved to 9-2 on the season, while New Mexico dropped to 4-6 heading into its conference schedule next week when it travels to face Fresno State on Dec. 31.

The Golden Eagles took an early lead in the first quarter, going up 22-15 on a Danielle King layup. But a UNM junior guard Cherise Beynon layup with 38 seconds trim the lead to five. She later had a chance to make it a single possession game, but missed a jumper at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter boded well for the Lobos as the team continued to chip away, drawing even at 25-25. The Lobos took their first lead on a jumper by senior center Richelle van der Keijl, putting the team up 27-25 about midway through the second quarter.

Marquette matched the Lobos point-for-point the rest of the quarter and regained the lead just before halftime. A block by Shantelle Valentine led to an Amani Wilborn transition layup with 23 seconds left and the Golden Eagles took a 34-33 advantage into the locker room.

Both teams committed 14 turnovers in the game, but Marquette made the Lobos pay for their mistakes. They held a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers, which also helped the team outscore New Mexico 23-16 in fast break points.

The Lobos seemed to have a rough time in the second half, while the Golden Eagles stepped on the gas pedal. After shooting better than 40 percent in the first frame, New Mexico’s shooting percent fell to 27.6 in the second half as Marquette started to increase its lead.

The Golden Eagles nailed three consecutive 3-point field goals in the third to stretch the lead to 10 before Beynon stopped the run with a bucket to pull the Lobos back within 47-39.

New Mexico struck first in the fourth quarter, but Marquette went on a 13-2 run to seize control the game, streaking out to a 60-43 lead with 4:18 remaining.

The Lobos responded with a 9-0 run spearheaded by Alex Lapeyrolerie. The team clawed back into the game to cut the deficit to single digits at 60-52 with 2:11 left to play, but that is as close as the Lobos came.

Both teams missed a pair of shots and the Golden Eagles sunk a pair of free throws to close out the scoring and take the ten-point win, 62-52.

Lapeyrolerie had a team-high 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting to help the Lobos to a 26-6 advantage in bench points, but it wasn’t even as the comeback bid fell short.

Jaisa Nunn also had a strong performance, scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and collecting six rebounds.

Four Marquette starters scored in double figures, led by senior forward McKayla Yentz with 16 points. Her teammate Natisha Hiedeman contributed 13 points as both players connected on four 3-pointers to help the cause.

On the other side, Van der Keijl and Beynon didn’t have the performances New Mexico needed from its leaders. Van der Keijl put up eight points on 4-of-10 shooting, though she did have nine rebounds and two blocks to supplement her unusual lack of scoring.

Beynon had another off shooting night, going 4-of-20 on her way to nine points. She also had a poor assist-to-turnover ratio, accounting for eight of UNM’s 14 turnovers.

Kianna Keller, playing just about 20 minutes away from her hometown, was held scoreless. She did pull down four rebounds and collected three blocks in 30 minutes of playing time.

As a team, the Lobos shot a subpar 23.5 percent from beyond the arc and also struggled at the free-throw line, hitting just 6-of-13 from the charity stripe.

New Mexico lost the battle on the boards to Marquette, 53-39—dropping their record to 0-5 when outrebounded by opponents.

The Lobos next game will take place on Thursday, Dec. 29 at Fresno State. The game kicks off Mountain West conference play the Lobos. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.

Matthew Narvaiz is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women’s basketball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz