The University of New Mexico Lobos women’s basketball team was able to ease to a 77-45 victory on Thursday, Nov. 20, against the University of Tennessee at Martin Skyhawks. With the win, the Lobos now move to 5-1 on the season, a significant jump from the 3-3 record the team started with last season.
Lobo guard Alyssa Hargrove spoke on the difference between this year’s team compared to last year’s team.
“I definitely feel like with this team we can play a lot faster, I feel we have more options to get it up to so that’s been a big difference for me handling the ball,” Hargrove said. “Our defense as well, pressing the whole game is new for us so I think it’s a good adjustment, seeing how we're working through it has been good.”
This win also makes it four straight for the Lobos and the second game in a row that UNM has held their opponent to under 50 points, showing that this team is starting to develop a defensive identity.
Outside of a few lapses in defense, the Lobos had the Skyhawks clamped all night as UT Martin shot a mediocre 19 of 57 from the field, going an abysmal three of 18 from three. The Lobo defense was also able to cause 14 turnovers, eight of which were steals.
Offensively for the Lobos, guard Destinee Hooks led the team in scoring with 15 points, shooting six of 13 from the field. Guard Laila Abdurraqib led the way in scoring for the Lobos’ bench, tallying up 11 points.
Abdurraqib credited the starters for her performance on the night.
“The starters honestly, they got out there, they pushed the tempo, they pushed the offensive and defensive end and it was easy to get in the game and get to flowing,” Abdurraqib said.
The first half of the game was a tale of two quarters for the Lobos; when the game tipped off, UNM started out strong, showing the skill gap between them and the Skyhawks. Towards the end of the quarter, however, the Lobos got sloppy on both offense and defense which allowed the Skyhawks to get in the game.
This sloppy play followed the Lobos into the second quarter, but towards the end of the quarter, the Lobos started to find their footing again, locking up UT Martin defensively and finding consistency on offense. The Lobos led 32-18 at halftime.
The third quarter was by far UNM’s best quarter of play as they came out of the half like they were shot out of a cannon. The Lobos seemed to be in a flow state, finding a groove and scoring 28 points on 12 of 18 shooting, knocking down four three-pointers in the process. Defensively they picked up where they left off at the end of the second quarter, making life difficult for the Skyhawks.
Up 60-34 going into the fourth, the Lobos didn’t have to do too much; the quarter went by without a hitch, and the Lobos sent the Skyhawks back to their bus with a loss.
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While UNM’s schedule will now start to stiffen up with tougher competition before conference play, Hargrove believes that this team can hang with any team.
“I know that we can play with anybody, we just have to have what our coach says, the right attitude and approach cause we have enough talent, we have a deeper bench this year, we’re ready,” Hargrove said.
Lobo Head Coach Mike Bradbury will be looking to see where his team is at during this part of the schedule, and believes his squad has what it takes to win during this stretch of tougher opponents.
“I want to see where we are at against those kind of teams if we want to get to where we wanna go this season we’ve gotta not just be competitive but out of those five (power four) games we gotta win some of them, and we’ve got a team plenty capable of that and next opportunity is on Sunday,” Bradbury said.
That opportunity on Sunday, Nov. 23, will be against the Texas Tech University Red Raiders as they come to The Pit.
Rodney Prunty is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @rprunty05
