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The No. 8-ranked Georgia Bulldogs showed the UNM women’s basketball team what one of the nation’s premier teams looks like at the annual Thanksgiving Tournament Saturday night at The Pit.
UNM did not recover from a 40-17 halftime deficit. The Lobos’ struggles led to a 72-42 defeat, their first of the season.
According to head coach Yvonne Sanchez, the hammering loss to a top-10 program signifies the different skill levels of the two squads.
“That’s the difference between a program striving for a Final Four run and one that’s rebuilding,” she said.
The Bulldogs ran an aggressive full-court zone press defense that led to 24 turnovers and limited the Lobos’ field goal shooting to 29.4 percent. Georgia head coach Andy Landers said he was impressed by New Mexico’s attack and wanted to halt the Lobos’ offense with the hostile defense.
“They are very good, especially offensively. I think they were the best team we’ve played this season, no question,” he said. “They are very disciplined, skilled, and can shoot the heck out of the ball. We just wanted to disrupt their flow.”
Senior guard Jasmine James, named Tournament Most Valuable Player, paced Georgia with 17 points, five assists, six steals and three rebounds in only 24 minutes.
Meanwhile, New Mexico junior guard Sara Halasz contributed a team-high 14 points and four rebounds. Senior guard Caroline Durbin struggled in the first half, shooting 2 of 9, but ended the game shooting 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
Durbin said the experience of playing Georgia, although disappointing, will benefit the Lobos later in the season.
“I’ve never played a top-10 team before. It was an eye-opener. They execute well and play good defense. That is a level we would like to get to,” she said. “Unfortunately, this is a loss, but it will help us down the road.”
Sanchez said the second half was positive despite the loss.
“I’m most proud of the second half by the way we battled back. I told them at halftime, ‘Play it out on the court and I’ll live with the results.’ And I think we battled back,” she said.
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Halasz said the Lobos’ second half performance should foreshadow better playing.
“The intensity they came out with impressed me. We’re going to get better. We came into the locker room with our heads up,” Halasz said. “We came back in the second half fighting. I thought that was good for us. We just need to do that every half and fight for it.”
Sanchez said the Lobos plan to face more top-tier teams in the future.
“Any time you get a chance to play a school like that, you have to do it,” she said. “We’ll continue to do it, and our players will get better.”
