by ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team is off to its second-best start in program history after turning a tie game after a quarter into a 22-point victory against UC Irvine 83-61 Saturday afternoon at Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit on the second day of the UNM Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Lobos’ 6-0 start only trails the 9-0 start UNM had during the 1996-97 season as the Lobos have won five of their six games by double figures (UNM has an average margin of victory of 16.8).
But Saturday’s game was far from a blowout as UC Irvine (2-4) gave the Lobos troubles offensively at times with UNM and the Anteaters tied 15-15 heading into the second quarter.
The game remained tight throughout much of the second quarter as a Lauren Saiki jumper with 2:46 remaining cut the UNM lead to 34-31. But the Lobos took advantage of trips to the foul line as a 7-0 run – all on free throws by Madi Washington, Cherise Beynon and Tesha Buck – gave the Lobos their first double-digit lead at 41-31 before a UC Irvine bucket at the buzzer made it 41-33 at the half.
“[UC Irvine] did a great job defending us and had a great plan,” UNM coach Mike Bradbury said. “They really caused us problems on offense.”
The Lobos’ defense turned up a notch in the third quarter and UNM eventually built the lead back to double figures on back-to-back buckets from Washington and Jaisa Nunn – both with a strong game for the Lobos – as the lead grew to 50-38 with 4:41 remaining in the third, a 12-point lead the Lobos would take into the fourth quarter (55-43).
The Lobo lead reached 21 points at 69-48 when Washington hit the last of her trio of 3-pointers with 4:52 remaining and UNM held off the Anteaters from there.
Washington came off the bench to lead the team with 21 points, going 6-for-12 from the field, 3-for-6 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. She’s the fourth player in UNM history to have two 20-point performances off the bench in the same season (no players has done it three times).
Nunn grabbed a career-best 18 rebounds (third time this season she has set or tied career best in rebounding) to go along with 17 points (7-for-8 from the field), two steals and a block.
“I felt pretty good but defensive-wise, I still need to be a little bit more solid,” Nunn said. “Overall I thought I was solid, but there’s room for improvement for sure.”
Buck (Mdewakanton Sioux) also had a well-rounded game with 17 points, six assists, four rebounds and four steals for the Lobos, including going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
UNM dominated the glass, outrebounding UC Irvine 51-31 – the Lobos’ highest rebounding margin on the season.
UNM gets ready to take on Illinois 2:30 p.m. Sunday for the UNM Thanksgiving Tournament championship at Dreamstyle Arena. The Fighting Illini defeated UC Irvine 65-59 on Friday and Wichita State 68-67 on Saturday.
