The Lobos were down 66-65 as redshirt senior guard Antiesha Brown stepped to the line with two free throw attempts and only 20 seconds left. Brown sent both bouncing off of the iron, and UNM lost 70-65 to Stanford on Monday night at The Pit.
“We didn’t think we were going to walk away here with a loss,” UNM head coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “We’ve just got to hit free throws. It’s not one person — that’s been our Achilles’ heel.”
Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said her team didn’t come into Albuquerque expecting to push the Lobos over.
“We got them down, and we couldn’t put them away. That’s a compliment to them,” VanDerveer said. “This is a great win for our program and for our team.”
VanDerveer said she was surprised her squad was able to leave The Pit with a win because of the Cardinals’ struggles from the charity stripe. However, Stanford (3-1) converted on all six of its free throws with 30 seconds left in the game, while the Lobos went 1 of 4 in that time span.
“Everybody remembers the last two (free throws), and they shouldn’t,” Sanchez said. “We’re going to be alright, but that is going to be a tough one tonight.”
UNM trailed by 16 points early in the first half, but a 21-4 run late in the half brought UNM back within striking distance. The Lobos and Cardinal walked up the ramp at halftime knotted up at 35 after a 3-point buzzer beater by Stanford’s Amber Orrange.
Sanchez said allowing Orrange to get a decent shot off was a mistake that the young group will work on.
New Mexico had the advantage of playing against Stanford without their leading scorer, Lili Thompson, who was absent due to illness. The sophomore guard out of Texas has been averaging 26 points per game.
The Lobos were without a key contributor as well. Junior forward Alexa Chavez, the Lobos’ best bench player, could have provided some much-needed assist on the boards as the Cardinal outrebounded UNM 50-31.
Junior forward Khadijah Shumpert led all New Mexico forwards with 13 points and five rebounds. Shumpert said she was pleased with the play down low despite only having four players rotating in the position.
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While the Lobos struggled on the boards, stopping guards continues to be an issue. Karlie Samuelson and Orrange both had big games for Stanford. Samuelson’s 23 was the game-high, and Orrange’s 18 was essential to the win.
Junior guard Bryce Owens, UNM’s leading scorer, took two huge three-pointers to bring the Lobos (0-4) back into contention in the second half.
“There was one three where I was wide open and I was like, ‘if I don’t take this shot, coach is going to take me out of the game,’” Owens said. “The shots I took, I’m not regretful or anything of them.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
