Cumber, Magalhães spark Lobo women to key MW win at Colorado State

Even a chorus of whistles couldn’t spoil the UNM women’s basketball team’s Saturday afternoon celebration in Colorado.

Viané Cumber and Joana Magalhães combined for 45 points and the Lobos led nearly all the way in a 78-74 win over Colorado State in Fort Collins. UNM (12-7, 5-1 Mountain West) led by as many as 18 points on its way to a key conference road victory over the Rams (13-7, 4-2).

It didn’t come without some anxious moments. Colorado State used a parade to the free-throw line to get back into things late. The Rams went 27-of-32 from the charity stripe and hit six straight to trail just 72-68 win 1:26 remaining.

But UNM answered with a 5-0 run, getting a breakaway layup by Drew Jordon and hitting 3 of 4 free throws to rebuild its lead and close out the win. The Lobos moved a game ahead of CSU in the MWC standings, a half-game behind UNLV and a half-game ahead of Wyoming. The Lady Rebels host the Cowgirls on Sunday.

“For the most part, I thought we played really well,” UNM coach Mike Bradbury said in a postgame phone interview. “The big thing is, we’re 3-0 on the road (in MWC play) with wins at San Diego State and Colorado State. Not many teams win in those places.”

It was a newsworthy day for Cumber, who racked up a double-double (25 points, 11 rebounds) and became the 27th member of UNM’s 1,000-point club. The Albuquerque native and Sandia High alum has 1,005 for her career.

Cumber went 8-for-9 from the foul line, missing her eighth attempt, to snap a program-record streak of 55 consecutive made free throws. It was just her second miss of the season and first since opening day, but Cumber was more than consoled by the Lobos’ victory.

“Getting to 1,000 points was one of my goals this year,” she said, “and I’m really glad to get there in a win. The (free-throw) streak was cool and I’m sorry it’s over. I didn’t really know about it until I broke the (program) record, but it was definitely a moment. Now the pressure’s off and I can just focus on winning.”

Magalhães also continued her run of strong performances in conference play, scoring a season-best 20 points and grabbing seven rebounds before fouling out. The freshman is averaging 11.6 points in six Mountain West games.

“Jo just keeps improving, no question about it,” Bradbury said. “She hit her first two 3s, that got her confidence up, and she really played well. Jo’s a competitor — sometimes maybe to a fault — but she always plays extremely hard.”

Colorado State got the vast majority of its production from Emma Ronsiek (29 points, 11 rebounds in 40 minutes, hitting 14-of-16 from the foul line) and Hannah Simental (24 points). Oddly, Bradbury was relatively pleased with Ronsiek’s numbers.

“I know it sounds strange, but I thought we did a pretty good job on Ronsiek,” he said. “She was 7-for-23 shooting and 1-for-11 from (3-point range) and we contested almost all of her shots. Yeah, we probably fouled her too much and sometimes I’m not sure we did foul her, but we didn’t give her many easy ones.”

The teams combined for 42 fouls and 54 free throws with three players fouling out. Eight of UNM’s 22 foul shots came in the final 1:05.

New Mexico came out sizzling, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Magalhães and a steal and layup by Alyssa Hargrove to build a 26-8 lead after one quarter.

Hargrove went on to stuff the stat sheet with six points, nine rebounds, six assists and all three of the Lobos’ steals.

CSU began putting some runs together in the second quarter and trimmed the deficit to 38-28 by halftime. Cumber then took over in the third quarter, swishing a pair of 3-pointers and scoring 13 points to help rebuild UNM’s lead to 60-45.

The Rams bounced back with a pair of runs in the fourth to make things interesting, but the Lobos made enough plays to leave Moby Arena with a victory.

“We just stayed together and kept our composure,” Cumber said. “I think we did a good job putting the loss to UNLV behind us and coming out locked-in and ready to play. I’m proud of my team.”

UNM returned to Albuquerque on Saturday night to prepare for a quick turnaround. The Lobos visit Utah State on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. tip.

LOBOS 78, RAMS 74

NEW MEXICO (12-7, 5-1 Mountain West)

Cumber 7-16 8-9 25, Magalhães 7-14 3-3 20, Hooks 5-15 1-4 13, Hargrove 2-9 1-2 6, Joaquim 2-3 1-2 5, Moreland 1-1 2-2 4, Langermann 1-3 0-0 3, Jordon 1-2 0-0 2, Lauro 0-2 0-0 0, Padilla 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-65 16-22 78.

COLORADO ST. (13-6, 4-2 Mountain West)

E Ronsiek 7-23 14-16 29, Froebe 2-5 3-4 7, H Ronsiek 0-4 0-0 0, Leimane 0-1 0-0 0, Headrick 0-0 0-0 0, Simental 7-13 5-6 24, Carlson 4-14 5-6 14, Fife 0-0 0-0 0, Vaz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-60 27-32 74.

New Mexico 26 12 22 18 — 78

Colorado St. 10 18 17 29 — 74

3-Point FGs—UNM 10-27 (Cumber 3-7, Magalhães 3-7, Hooks 2-7, Hargrove 1-3, Langermann 1-2, Lauro 0-1); CSU 7-28 (E Ronsiek 1-11, Froebe 0-2, H Ronsiek 0-2, Simental 5-9, Carlson 1-4). Rebounds—UNM 43 (Cumber 11, Magalhães 7, Hooks 4, Hargrove 9, Joaquim 5, Moreland 1, Langermann 1, Jordon 2, Lauro 1); CSU 41 (E Ronsiek 11, Froebe 6, H Ronsiek 8, Leimane 2, Headrick 4, Simental 2, Carlson 4, Fife 1). Assists—UNM 12 (Cumber 1, Magalhães 1, Hooks 2, Hargrove 6, Joaquim 1, Langermann 1); CS 12 (E Ronsiek 3, Froebe 1, H Ronsiek 2, Simental 3, Carlson 3). Steals—UNM 3 (Hargrove 3); CSU 7 (Froebe 3, Simental 1, Carlson 3). Blocks—UNM 2 (Cumber 1, Hargrove 1); CSU 3 (E Ronsiek 1, H Ronsiek 1, Fife 1). Turnovers—UNM 11, CSU 8. Team fouls—UNM 24, CSU 18. Fouled out—UNM Magalhães, Langermann; CSU H Ronsiek. Technical foul—CSU head coach.