The Lobo women's basketball team made history with its win over the Nevada Wolfpack Saturday evening, winning a game that went down to the wire in Reno, Nevada, 69-63.
New Mexico (8-6, 4-0 MW) has won its first four conference games for the first time ever in Mountain West play. The Lobos accomplished the feat before, but it was
Nevada (6-9, 0-4 MW) went the opposite direction, failing to pick up its first conference win and dropping its second straight at home and fourth consecutive loss overall.
The first quarter started out in favor of the Lobos with a quick layup from freshman guard Mykiel Burleson, who scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the first quarter alone.
She and her backcourt teammate, junior standout Cherise Beynon netted three 3-pointers each in
But the Lobos started to digress in the second quarter, committing three turnovers in just over a minute. It allowed the Wolfpack to slice into the lead, cutting it in half to trail 40-32 heading into the locker room.
Beynon didn’t shoot particularly well in the game, going just 8-for-21 from the field, but came out guns blazing in the third quarter. She knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers early on to extend the lead to 14 for the Lobos, 46-32.
But Nevada was able to close the gap again. The Wolfpack chipped away and closed the third quarter on a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to single digits at 55-46.
Problems started to mount for the Lobos in the fourth quarter. Senior center Richelle van der Keijl had gotten herself into foul trouble by committing back-to-back fouls after she turned the ball over in the final minute of the third quarter.
It gave her four personal fouls, which put her defensive presence and rebounding ability on the bench to start the fourth. She did re-enter the game, but had little impact and eventually fouled out with 1:45 left in the game.
Even in her absence, the Lobos increased the margin to as many as nine. But Nevada’s Riana Everidge nailed a huge 3-pointer to cut the lead to four after van der Keijl fouled out.
The Wolfpack got a stop on defense and had a chance to pull closer, but split a pair of free throws and trailed 66-63 with a minute left.
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The Lobos left the door open by missing three free throws down the
UNM walked away with a victory in a nail-biter on its home court, 69-63.
The game was anything but a cake-walk and New Mexico head coach Mike Bradbury gave credit to both teams for the effort.
“Nevada was tremendous in taking us out of everything that we wanted to do. We had no inside game today and we had to gut it out,” Bradbury said in a release. “We were good defensively in the second half and Cherise was Cherise. We're fortunate to have her and fortunate that she played as well as she did today.”
Burleson ended up with 18 points on 7-for-17 shooting. She also logged seven rebounds and three assists.
Bradbury said he was impressed with Burleson’s explosive first quarter, but also praised her defensive effort in the game.
“I thought Mykiel was really good defensively tonight,” Bradbury said. “She made some shots in the first quarter, but defensively this was her best game. She did not miss a defensive assignment.”
Beynon lead all scorers with 25 and also brought down five rebounds and dishing out three assists.
One of the cornerstones of the Lobo team, van der Keijl, was held in check. She was limited to six
As a team, the Lobos shot 35.4 percent from the field, while holding Nevada to 32.9 percent. The Lobos also shot exceptionally well from beyond the arc as a team, hitting 43.5 of its 3-point shots.
The Lobos also outrebounded Nevada 52-37, a statistic that usually translates to a victory for UNM. Senior Kianna Keller and sophomore Jaisa Nunn both managed to clear 12 rebounds.
The Lobos next challenge will be an away game against UNLV on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed 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
