It’s been a tough go as of late for the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team.
The Lobos (16-6, 4-5 MW) traveled to Colorado State Saturday for their second-straight conference road matchup and lost, 74-71, in overtime — marking the team’s third-straight loss in conference, putting them at 4-5 overall in the Mountain West.
The Rams (14-7, 6-4 MW), with 26 seconds left on the clock, drained a 3-pointer to break a 71-71 tie and took home the victory. In the last three-and-a-half minutes, UNM wasn’t able to score and missed its final five shots during that frame — including two 3-pointers in the final eight seconds that could have tied the game.
Throughout most of the game, the two teams played relatively close with neither team leading by more than eight points. UNM pushed its biggest lead to 42-34, which occurred with 6:43 remaining in the third quarter.
By the end of the third, though, CSU managed to creep its way to a two-point lead, 50-48.
New Mexico trailed for most of the fourth quarter, falling behind by as many as six points on several occasions. UNM senior guard Cherise Beynon gave the Lobos a brief one-point lead after she connected from long range, making it 65-64 with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter.
But Colorado State quickly regained the lead after Grace Colaivalu was fouled while scoring a layup. Her free throw put the Rams on top 67-65, but New Mexico was able to extend the game with a big bucket by junior post Jaisa Nunn in the closing seconds.
And with the teams playing to a stalemate after 40 minutes of regulation, the game moved into overtime.
UNM got its lead up to 71-67 after Nunn and senior guard Tesha Buck both scored from the paint, but CSU answered with four straight points of its own to tie things up again.
And that was when senior guard Hannah Tvrdy of CSU hit the eventual game-winning 3-pointer, lifting her team to a 74-71 lead with less than 30 seconds to play.
As a team, the Lobos made 33.3 percent of their shots and went 6-of-25 from beyond the arc, while the Rams shot 42.9 percent and made 9-of-24 from the 3-point marker.
For UNM, Beynon led with a game-high 30 points and a season-high 13 rebounds, giving her a double-double. Nunn also had a double-double, with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
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CSU had four players score in double figures, behind Tvrdy’s team-high 16 points.
UNM won the rebounding battle, outdueling the Rams 48-41 overall in the battle on the boards.
Conference play hasn’t been kind to the Lobos, as they’re 4-5 in league play. Up next for them, however, is a return to Dreamstyle Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. to take on Utah State (5-16, 3-7 MW).
Matthew Narvaiz is a senior sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz.
