'A win here is huge': UNM women shock No. 25 UNLV

Talk about beating the odds.

Viané Cumber drained a long 3-point dagger with 3.7 seconds left and the UNM women's basketball team stunned No. 25 UNLV 69-66 in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday afternoon.

Cumber scored 16 of her team-high 22 points in the second half as the Lobos (13-6, 4-2 Mountain West) rallied to hand the Rebels their first home loss since 2021-22. UNLV (15-2, 5-1) had won 22 straight MWC regular-season games, 29 in a row against Mountain West foes counting conference-tournament games.

The winning possession did not proceed as planned. UNM coach Mike Bradbury had planned a two-person option with Nyah Wilson and Paula Reus, but the Rebels threw a wrench into that option.

"They made a great call and switched to a zone mid-possession," Bradbury said in a postgame phone interview. "We had to adjust, go to motion, and luckily got the ball to our best shooter. It wasn't a great shot, but V (Cumber) had enough space and she drained it."

Cumber credited her teammates for quickly adjusting to UNLV's defensive switch.

"Once I caught the ball, I knew I had to release it," she said of her 26-foot game-winner. "As soon as I shot it, I knew it was going in. It felt really good."

It was UNM's first road win over a ranked opponent during Bradbury's eight-season tenure and changed the outlook of the Mountain West race considerably. UNLV slipped into a first-place tie with Wyoming with the Lobos one game back.

Bradbury laughed when asked about the likelihood of Saturday's result.

"I looked on ESPN this morning just out of curiosity," he said. "I think we were 22½-point underdogs and I wasn't too surprised. UNLV doesn't just beat people at Cox Pavilion, they annihilate them. For us to get a win here is huge."

UNLV had been 6-0 at home this season prior to Saturday, 5-0 at Cox with all five wins by 25 points or more. But New Mexico showed early it was ready to battle the Rebels.

After falling behind 8-0, the Lobos trimmed the deficit to 15-12 after one quarter and answered every run by the Rebels.

"We took momentum from beating Wyoming (on Wednesday)," Cumber said. "They were undefeated in conference, too, so we came in confident. Winning at UNLV is obviously different, but we expected it to be a close game."

UNLV led by as many as nine points in the first half and 36-30 at halftime, but UNM started building momentum after intermission. Cumber scored inside to even the score at 46 with 5:02 left in the third quarter, and there were six ties and nine lead changes the rest of the way.

"We got back in transition defensively and did a pretty good job in our half-court defense," Bradbury said. "We executed well on offense, too, even in the first half. We just started hitting more shots in the second half, including some big 3s."

The Lobos had to overcome adversity in the closing minute, leading 66-65 with possession of the ball, when the Rebels' Amarachi Kimpson knocked the ball away from UNM's Aniyah Augmon. The ball deflected off Kimpson's leg and went out of bounds but officials called it UNLV's ball and upheld the call after replay.

"Let's say I didn't agree with the call," Bradbury said.

UNLV's Desi-Rae Young, who posted game highs with 24 points and 17 rebounds, hit one of two free throws to make it 66-66 with 23 seconds left. Cumber then nailed her sixth 3-pointer of the game, and a the Rebels missed on a last-second shot to tie.

Augmon put together a strong outing for UNM with 15 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Wilson added 10 for the Lobos, who also got eight points, four rebounds and steal from Hulda Joaquim off the bench.

"Hulda was tremendous off the bench, and V was just outstanding in the second half," Bradbury said. "I really thought Aniyah Augmon was the heart-and-soul of this one, though. She kept us right where we needed to be all day."

Cumber said the Lobos' postgame celebration was enjoyable but brief.

"It was crazy in the locker room, everyone cheering," she said. "But we had to leave right away to catch our flight home, so it was over pretty fast. Definitely feels good to win that one, though. That was big for us."

UNM returns home to host Fresno State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.