by ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team got 17 points apiece from seniors Cherise Beynon and Tesha Buck (Mdewakanton Sioux) as the Lobos built an early lead and held on for an 80-66 victory over Eastern New Mexico in their exhibition opener Wednesday night at Dreamstyle Arena.
A Buck 3-pointer with 6:46 remaining in the first quarter ignited a 12-2 run for the Lobos to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 16-7 lead and UNM wouldn’t trail again for the rest of the contest (the final 36 minutes, 46 seconds).
But the Greyhounds, who qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament last season, didn’t go away as the Lobos never led by more than 17 in the contest as ENMU kept the game within an 8-12 point reach most of the way.
“I thought we played hard enough. Now we can watch the film and figure out what we need to work on specifically,” UNM coach Mike Bradbury said. “… (ENMU) is very well coached, very well disciplined, and they made us play when we pressured them. And obviously, they shot the three very well.”
The Lobos took their first double-digit lead when freshman Jaedyn De La Cerda hit a 3-pointer to make it 23-13 late in the first quarter before ENMU’s Brandi Gomez drained a 3-pointer of her own to cut the lead to seven at 23-16 heading into the second quarter.
The Greyhounds sliced UNM’s lead to 31-28 after another Gomez 3-pointer with 3:06 left in the half before UNM went on a 10-3 run capped by a Buck 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to make it 41-31 Lobos at the break.
UNM’s lead grew to as much as 17 in the third quarter after a Jasmine Smith layup with 1:55 left in the quarter made it 56-39. But again ENMU cut the lead back down to 11 at 57-46 heading into the fourth.
The Lobos wouldn’t let their lead get lower than eight in the fourth as 10 points by Beynon in the final period sealed the game for UNM.
Buck – who sat out last season after transferring from Wisconsin-Green Bay – had 17 points, four rebounds and two steals for UNM – going 4-for-11 from 3-point range.
“I think I played OK,” Buck said. “I didn’t shoot the ball very well. Four for 11, that’s not very good for me, so I could do better. Overall, I think it was an OK game for me getting back into it.”
Jaisa Nunn had nine points and eight rebounds for the Lobos as well while Smith added eight points in 12 minutes of play. Alex Lapeyrolerie added a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with her six points.
Gomez led ENMU with 20 points, including going 5-for-12 from 3-point range. As a team, ENMU went 11-for-29 from 3-point range (37.2 percent).
The Lobos as a team went 27-for-40 (67.5 percent) from the free-throw line along with 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) from 3-point range.
UNM limited its turnovers to nine while forcing 15 Greyhound turnovers.
