Snake eyes: Lobo women come up empty again vs. San Diego State

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Difficult to watch, even harder to explain.

The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team picked an awful time for one of its punchless offensive quarters Monday. After battling through a 33-33 first half in a Mountain West tournament quarterfinal against San Diego State, the Lobos scored just five points in the third quarter.

That was effectively the difference as the No. 4-seeded Aztecs went on to a 63-53 victory over No. 5 UNM at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. It was the fourth straight meeting between the two longtime rivals in the MWC quarterfinals. San Diego State has won the last three.

If the outcome seemed familiar, so did the strange flow of Monday’s game. UNM came out sharp in the first half, matching the Aztecs blow for blow and run for run. In the third quarter, UNM went nearly 7 minutes without scoring.

Similar droughts had cropped up at various times for UNM this season. The Lobos (18-14) managed to overcome some of them, but Monday’s dry spell was simply too long and much too arid.

UNM’s two leading scorers and All-Mountain West honorees, Viané Cumber and Destinee Hooks, were shut down, scoring two and four points, respectively. The Lobos had 23 turnovers, hit just 21 field goals and finished 7-for-16 from the foul line.

New Mexico’s defense and rebounding numbers were good enough to give the Lobos a chance. Its offensive numbers were not.

“Without a doubt,” UNM coach Mike Bradbury said. “We turned it over way too much. Some of those San Diego State forced, some were just mistakes on drives, offensive fouls and unforced errors. We didn’t make layups in the second half and we couldn’t make free throws throughout the game. We competed for 40 minutes, we just couldn’t score.”

Freshman Joana Magalhães was the only Lobo to reach double figures with 10 points, all in the first half. Alyssa Hargrove and Amhyia Moreland finished with nine apiece, while Drew Jordon and Hulda Joaquim each had eight.

But the Lobos could not overcome a quiet day from Cumber and Hooks, who were a combined 3-for-14 from the field. Aztecs coach Stacie Terry-Hutson said smothering Cumber and Hooks was priority one for her team.

“Viané Cumber is such a great shooter,” Terry-Hutson said. “She requires a lot of attention and we game-planned for that. And Hooks is so dynamic, you have to help out on her defensively. I tip my hat to them because they’re such good offensive players. I’m glad we were able to contain them.”

Even without Cumber and Hooks scoring, UNM’s offense found a rhythm in the first half. Magalhães hit a pair of early 3-pointers, and the Lobos led 20-15 after one quarter. A putback by Hooks increased the lead to 24-17 early in the second quarter, forcing an SDSU timeout.

“New Mexico hit us with a haymaker,” Terry-Hutson said. “I thought they out-toughed us in the first half.”

A string of four straight UNM turnovers sparked a 7-0 Aztecs run, however, and the score was tied at 33 by halftime.

That’s when the scoring well went dry for the Lobos. Missed layups, four more turnovers and suddenly San Diego State (23-9) began to find a confident stride. Back-to-back Cali Clark layups capped a 12-0 run that gave the Aztecs a 45-33 lead before UNM’s Jordon finally scored with 3:04 left in the third quarter.

“We missed six layups in the third quarter,” Bradbury said, “five of them uncontested. I don’t know what to say about that.”

Hargrove and Joaquim were equally baffled.

“We got good shots,” Hargrove said, “they just wouldn’t go in.”

Joaquim shook her head and added, “I don’t know what to say. We tried. We just could not make our shots.”

UNM regained some of its shooting form in the fourth quarter, trimming a 54-38 deficit to 59-50 with 3:38 remaining. But that was as close as the Lobos could get.

Clark and Adryanna Quezada scored 12 points apiece to lead the Aztecs, who will face top-seeded UNLV in Tuesday’s semifinals. UNM outrebounded SDSU 41-31 on Monday, but that effort was undone by turnovers and cold shooting.

“Yeah, I thought our defense was pretty good,” Bradbury said. “We followed the plan. They got loose on us a couple times, especially after turnovers, and they also hit some difficult shots. Bottom line, they hit more shots than we did. Give San Diego State credit.”

AZTECS 63, LOBOS 53

NEW MEXICO (18-14)

Joaquim 4-7 0-0 8, Hooks 2-4 0-0 4, Hargrove 4-14 0-1 9, Magalhães 4-8 0-3 10, Cumber 1-10 0-0 2, Padilla 1-5 0-0 3, Moreland 4-4 1-2 9, Jordon 1-2 6-10 8, Lauro 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 7-16 53.

SAN DIEGO STATE (23-9)

Villalobos 3-8 2-3 8, Quezada 5-7 2-3 12, Sheffey 3-10 1-1 7, Martinez 0-3 1-2 1, Panganiban 3-6 0-0 8, Houpt 0-0 0-0 0,, Clark 5-8 2-3 12, Hamilton 2-5 0-0 4, Fison 0-2 0-0 0, Green 5-7 1-3 11. Totals 26-56 9-15 63.

New Mexico 20 13 5 15 — 53

San Diego State 15 18 18 12 — 63

3-point FGs—UNM 4-17 (Joaquim 0-1, Hargrove 1-5, Magalhães 2-3, Cumber 0-4, Padilla 1-3, Lauro 0-1); SDSU 2-7 (Sheffey 0-1, Martinez 0-2, Panganiban 2-2, Clark 0-1, Hamilton 0-1). Rebounds—UNM 41 (Joaquim 7, Hooks 5, Hargove 4, Magalhães 6, Cumber 7, Padilla 3, Moreland 4, Jordon 2); SDSU 31 (Villalobos 2, Quezada 6, Sheffey 3, Martinez 1, Panganiban 2, Houpt 1, Clark 9, Hamilton 1, Green 1). Assists—UNM 13 (Hooks 3, Hargrove 6, Cumber 1, Padilla 2, Jordon 1); SDSU 11 (Villalobos 4, Sheffey 1, Martinez 1, Houpt 1, Hamilton 3, Green 1). Steals—UNM 10 (Joaquim 1, Hargrove 4, Magalhães 4, Moreland 1); SDSU 11 (Villalobos 2, Sheffey 3, Panganiban 1, Hamilton 2, Fiso 1, Green 2). Blocks—UNM 4 (Hargrove 1, Magalhães 1, Cumber 1, Lauro 1); SDSU 1 (Villalobos 1). Turnovers—UNM 23, SDSU 15. Team fouls—UNM 23, SDSU 20. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—None.