Fresh off of an open practice last Saturday, the New Mexico women’s basketball team will be back in action in an exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico at Dreamstyle Arena on Wednesday.
The exhibition match will be the first bit of live action for the Lobos this season and its first at Dreamstyle Arena aka The Pit in the lead up to the upcoming season.
For Eastern New Mexico, the game will be its second exhibition game this week, first participating in one against the Arizona Wildcats on Monday evening — a game they lost, 69-50, on the road in Tucson.
This season, New Mexico is set to return six players who competed last season — three of whom saw major minutes as starters in senior guard Cherise Beynon, senior guard Alex Lapeyrolerie and sophomore guard Mykiel Burleson. As for the other three — who, at times, saw significant playing time too — junior center Jaisa Nunn, sophomore guard Emily Lines and senior guard Laneah Bryan are also returnees from a season ago. Both Nunn and Bryan, it’s assumed, will be a significant part of this season’s roster, while Lines will also play an integral role.
In addition, the Lobos will see the appearances of two transfers from last season in senior guard Tesha Buck and junior center Erica Moore. Buck, a 6-foot sharp shooter, transferred from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay after her junior year in the 2015-16 season, where she averaged 39.9 percent from beyond the arc. As for Moore, who ties for second tallest on this season’s roster at 6-feet-2-inches — right behind Nunn at 6-foot-3-inches — she’s a transfer from Purdue, where she last appeared in the 2014-15 season as a freshman. She appeared in 12 games, where she averaged 3.8 minutes per game.
The most notable additions to this season’s roster would be the freshmen. In total, there are five of them. In terms of those who might see significant playing time, freshman guards N’Dea Flye and Jasmine Smith have been mentioned on occasion by head coach Mike Bradbury, while others like Jaedyn De La Cerda, Madi Washington and Antonia Anderson should see playing time, too, at least in Wednesday’s exhibition.
As for who should have an instant impact against the Greyhounds, returnees like Beynon, Lapeyrolerie and Nunn are names to be aware of.
Last season, Beynon led the Lobos in points per game at 15.8, while also leading the Mountain West conference in stats such as assists (198) and assists per game (6.6).
Lapeyrolerie, though, is known more as a shooter — especially from range. During the 2016-17 season, she led New Mexico in made 3-pointers at 55. She also recorded 14 double-digit games, one being a game off the bench in the season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson, where she went 6-from-8 from beyond the arc.
Nunn, who will most likely start at the 5 this season, was fourth in rebounds a season ago. In 11 of her 21 appearances, she managed to score in double-digits. With her height and stout frame, Nunn will be most important in rebounding. But she can also stretch the floor and shoot the occasional 3-pointer, as she went 6-for-28 last season prior to her injury.
For Eastern New Mexico, 10 of its 14 players are returnees from a season ago. Senior guard Mikaehla Connor is the most notable to return for this season, as she averaged 11.2 points per game, 4.7 rebounds per game and 3.4 assists per game. She also made First Team All-Conference last season as well as the All-Defensive Team.
Senior forward Daeshi McCants is also a notable returnee. Last season she averaged 9.3 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game, respectively, while also making the Third Team All Lone Star Conference.
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In the LSC preseason poll, the Greyhounds were picked to finish second in the conference, respectively, after winning the conference championship a season ago and finishing with a 20-9 record.
The Lobos, in an exhibition match last season, beat the Greyhounds, 89-70, at the The Pit. Burleson and Beynon put up 19 and 18 points in that showdown, respectively.
Wednesday’s matchup will tip off at 7 p.m.
Matthew Narvaiz is a senior sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers baseball and men’s and women’s basketball but also contributes content for football. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz.
