Lobos mount comeback, take down Rams

Laila Abdurraqib and Joana Magalhaes did not start for the UNM women's basketball team Wednesday night — but they sure did finish.

Abdurraqib scored a career-best 25 points, 10 of them late in the fourth quarter, and Magalhaes returned from injury to provide a needed spark as the Lobos grabbed a 66-59 win over Mountain West co-leader Colorado State in Fort Collins.

UNM trailed 48-42 with 8:15 left before finishing on a 24-11 run. The Lobos (12-4, 4-1) handed the Rams (13-3, 4-1) their first home loss of the season, picking up a key road win over one of the MWC's top contenders.

Freshman Abdurraqib was the star of the show, scoring UNM's final 10 points. Arguably the biggest came on a long 3-pointer to beat the shot clock and give the visitors a 62-57 advantage with 1:03 remaining.

"When you play really good teams like Colorado State, it's not enough to just play hard," UNM coach Mike Bradbury said. "You've got to have someone step up and really play well. That was Laila tonight. She was really good."

Abdurraqib came off the bench to go 7-for-9 from 3-point range and hit 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final 20 seconds to secure the win. UNM finished with a 34-2 advantage in bench points, thanks entirely to Abdurraqib and Magalhaes, who scored nine.

Magalhaes missed the Lobos' previous two games with a quad injury and was not expected to play — until Wednesday morning.

"Jo didn't really practice Monday or Tuesday but she looked good enough in shoot-around that I thought she could give us a few minutes," Bradbury said. "She did more than that. She was huge."

Magalhaes ended up playing 29 minutes and hit back-to-back baskets during UNM's finishing run. The first, an acrobatic left-handed reverse layup, gave the Lobos a 54-50 lead with 4:30 remaining.

Cacia Antonio scored 11 points and Destinee Hooks adde 10 for for UNM in a wild game of back-and-forth scoring runs. CSU raced to a 12-2 lead and held a 22-13 advantage after one quarter. The Lobos turned the tables by outscoring the Rams 19-2 in the second quarter to take a 32-24 lead to halftime.

"Once we adjusted to (CSU's) speed, I thought we were pretty good defensively," Bradbury said. "In the second quarter, we were really good."

The Rams bounced back in the third quarter behind sophomore Kloe Froebe, who scored 10 of her team-high 21 points. CSU trimmed UNM's lead to 42-41 by quarter's end, then reeled off seven straight points to go up 48-42 before Bradbury called a timeout.

After the break, Antonio scored twice inside and Hooks nailed a pair of 3-pointers to fuel a 10-0 Lobos run. Magalhaes and Abdurraqib took over from there as New Mexico won for the sixth time in its last seven games.

"Our offense got a little stagnant and we wanted to make sure we were moving the ball," Bradbury said of the pivotal timeout. "That actually helped us on defense, too, because it helped us get back quicker in transition."

UNM outrebounded the Rams 42-34 and racked up an 18-6 advantage in points off turnovers. UNM's aggressive defense frequently forced CSU to settle for 3-point shots, and the Rams were just 5-for-21 from long range.

The Lobos return home to face Nevada on Saturday at 1 p.m.