The pace of Wednesday night's game was supposed to be played at a high tempo. And for at least one team — it was.
The University of New Mexico women's basketball team won its eighth consecutive game and improved to 9-1 after taking down the Sacramento State Hornets by a score of 85-53 thanks to an concerted effort from several Lobos.
New Mexico freshman guard Jayla Everett led the way for her team, posting a game-high 19 points to pace a trio of Lobos who finished the night with double-digit scoring performances.
Sacramento State (3-4), which was known for its fast-paced, get-the-ball-down-the-floor-and-shoot-3's style of offense, probably entered Wednesday's game with the belief it could match the Lobos fire power.
But UNM appeared to out-hustle the Hornets on many occasions, stemming from the heavy rotation of players the Lobos used. In total, New Mexico cycled through 12 players — 10 of whom played nine or more minutes.
Nike McClure tweeted prior to the game that it was "going to be a block party," and she didn't disappoint. The senior forward finished with five blocks and eight points, crediting UNM head coach Mike Bradbury for preparing the team.
“We just tried to stick to the game plan Mike (Bradbury) gave us tonight, which was just get the ball up the court as fast as possible,” McClure said.
UNM got out to a fast start behind Aisia Robertson, who accounted for seven of the first nine Lobo points of the game. By the end of the first quarter, New Mexico held a 23-19 lead over the Hornets and the Lobos looked solid, despite Jaisa Nunn being shunned down low in the post as Robertson picked up the slack with 11 first-quarter points..
In many ways, UNM looked like the more complete team on the floor but Sacramento State’s barrage of 3-pointers kept them within striking distance. The Hornets started out 1-of-5 from beyond the arc, but made six more 3's along the way in the first half. That was mostly because of the high volume of long-range heaves — 24 of the team's 36 shot attempts over the first 20 minutes came from beyond the arc.
Still, the Lobos managed to take a 41-34 halftime lead into the locker room after Nunn was able to get going in the post by scoring four points in the final two minutes before the buzzer.
UNM showed no signs of slowing down in the second half. Everett scored four of the first six Lobo points to start the third quarter. From there, the Lobos continued to build on their lead and stretched it to a 64-45 advantage after three quarters of play.
Meanwhile, the Hornets struggled even more from beyond the arc, which helped the Lobos create the separation. Sacramento State made just 17.4 percent of its 24 second-half 3-point attempts.
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“You can’t keep them from shooting,” Bradbury said. “All you can do is try to contest them. And I thought in the third quarter we did that — fourth quarter, not so much. I think they just missed some of those.”
Robertson finished with 16 points and while Nunn earned 10 to round out the Lobos who scored in double figures. Nunn finished one rebound shy of a double-double, but helped her team crush the Hornets on the boards, out-rebounding Sacramento State 60-43 on the glass.
The pace of play obviously tilted in UNM's favor as the Lobos finished with 38 fast-break points compared to just 17 from Sacramento State.
Hannah Friend had a team-high 14, but didn't get much assistance from her teammates — especially in the second half. The Hornets shot an anemic 16.1 percent over the final 20 minutes and only managed to make five baskets along the way.
New Mexico's 85-53 win over Sacramento State sets up a matchup with Stephen F. Austin University on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Dreamstyle Arena aka The Pit in the final game of the Lobo Invitational.
Matthew Narvaiz is a senior writer for the Daily Lobo. He primarily helps cover men’s basketball, however, he also contributes content to other sports. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz.
