Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said in last week’s press conference she wasn’t sure if her team was prepared to be one of the premiere Mountain West teams. The head coach wasn’t worried about lack of talent, but said the team hasn’t been in the position of having a target on its back.
Saturday’s 66-48 loss to Wyoming marked the third loss in four games for UNM, dropping them to a 2-3 conference record (9-7 overall).
The box score told the story again for New Mexico. After getting out to a three point advantage early in the contest, the Lobos stalled out and couldn’t catch back up.
Shooting just over 21 percent from the field (7 for 33) in the first 20 minutes of play will put any team at a severe disadvantage. And, as has been the case for UNM as of late, the defense has not compensated enough to pick up for the egregious offensive play.
Even if the Lobos were to have shot lights out, it probably wouldn’t have been enough to beat a Cowgirls squad that simply walked all over New Mexico ‘s defense.
Cowgirl guard Marquelle Dent paved the way for Wyoming (10-6, 3-3 MW) scoring 20 points, snagging five boards and dishing out five assists as well. She set the pace for the Cowgirls to shoot a remarkable 50 percent (23-46) from the field.
If the high percentage shooting night wasn’t problematic enough for the Lobos, 10 of those 23 makes were from beyond the arc for the Cowgirls, who also shot a cool 50 percent from downtown.
Aside from shooting percentages, UNM’s night was not all that bad; the Lobos had less turnovers, more rebounds and more steals than Wyoming.
It just seemed to be a night when nothing was falling for New Mexico, and everything was falling for Wyoming. UNM guard Cherise Beynon put together one of her worst games during her tenure as a Lobo.
The guard’s season high in attempted shots (26) did not translate into good things for Beynon who also put together one of her worst shooting games of the season (.192). Beynon could only connect from the field five times out of her 26 attempts before departing early from the contest with five fouls.
Shumpert had the team high with 13 points, going 4-5 from the field. Point guard Bryce Owens had a rough night from the field as she put up only seven points on 3-11 shooting and didn’t manage a single assist in 21 minutes of play.
The Lobos will have their last long break of the season without a mid-week game this week in anticipation for the first week back to classes. For Sanchez, the coach will need to spend that time preparing to turn her conference season around in preparation for the upcoming game against San Jose State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
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Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers volleyball, women’s basketball, baseball, and beach volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
