Jayla Everett was apparently feeling down after coming off of a rough game against San Diego State on Wednesday night.
She said she knows what she’s capable of and that performance didn’t meet her standard.
And on Saturday afternoon inside Dreamstyle Arena - The Pit, she showed why she is deserving of having the respect of her coaches and teammates, as they placed their confidence in her and were rewarded with a 24-point performance in a wire-to-wire 85-74 win over the Nevada Wolf Pack.
“I know a big thing with San Diego State was me being down on myself and not moving on from the last play,” Everett said. “This game when I messed up I tried to move on to the next play instead of holding on to that grudge from the last play. The biggest thing (moving forward) is moving on and just shaking it off.”
Things started off about as well as the Lobos could have hoped in the first half, jumping out to a quick 8-0 lead and forcing a Nevada timeout less than three minutes in to the game. Aisia Robertson focused on feeding Nunn, who had four points by the time the timeout was called.
The shots continued to fall easily for the Lobos, who also received big minutes from Antonia Anderson off the bench. Anderson came into the game after Nevada found their stroke and had cut the lead to 17-12. She scored six of the Lobos final eight points in the quarter, which was highlighted by a steal near midcourt that she turned into an uncontested layup and helped push the UNM lead back to nine before the end of the quarter.
“The last however many games its been, its getting to be several now, (Anderson) has been great,” head coach Bradbury said. “This is a hard game for (Anderson and McGruder) to be good in just because of their size. We need her, she’s been playing great.”
The Lobos only lost the rebounding battle by one, something Bradbury said he is happy with given the opponent.
In the second, the Lobos continued their impressive shooting. They finished the half shooting 73 percent from the field, a big difference from the season low 31 percent they shot in San Diego on Wednesday. On Saturday, they rebounded with their best shooting percentage of the season. The Lobos lead hit 16— their largest lead of the game—multiple times in the quarter.
Bradbury said that the Lobos worked on their shooting in practice following the SDSU loss, but that was more in response to the way they played when they took on Nevada in Reno than Wednesday’s game.
Nevada cut the lead down to as little as five in the fourth quarter, but could never get closer than that. Ahlise Hurst, who finished with five points, hit a 3-pointer in response that shifted momentum back to the Lobos, who were able to keep the margin in double digits most of the way and eventually sealed the victory at the free throw line.
Robertson and Nunn both finished with strong games as well. Robertson recorded another double-double with 18 points and 10 assists in addition to leading the team in rebounds with six, while Nunn posted 22 points and four rebounds.
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The Lobos will play two straight on the road, beginning Wednesday, Feb. 13 when they travel to San Jose State to take on the Spartans at 8 p.m.
Cameron Goeldner is a senior reporter and photographer for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s soccer, women’s basketball, softball and the Albuquerque Isotopes, but also contributes content for all other sports. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @goeldfinger.
