Winning colors: Yellow-clad Lobo women top Wyoming in the Pit

Yellow turned out to be a winning color Wednesday night in the Pit. Oddly, that wasn’t good news for the Wyoming Cowgirls.

The University of New Mexico Lobos, who wear yellow Zia uniforms exactly once a year, forced visiting Wyoming to wear brown in their Mountain West women’s basketball matchup. Yellow suited the home team just fine in a hard-fought 73-67 victory.

Color combinations have not been a concern for the Lobos of late. They improved to 11-6 overall, 4-0 in conference play and have won six of seven overall.

Destinee Hooks scored 20 points, Viané Cumber added 16, and UNM effectively spread the ball around late to hold off the Cowgirls (8-7, 2-1). Hulda Joaquim scored nine points for the Lobos, Amhyia Moreland and Joana Magalhães had eight apiece, and Lara Langermann chipped in seven.

“Really good offensive game,” UNM coach Mike Bradbury said. “We got good shots, got the ball where we wanted it and didn’t turn it over. That’s a pretty good formula for success.”

The Lobos, who have struggled with turnovers for much of the season, had a season-low seven on Wednesday. That proved to be critical as UNM forced 15 Wyoming turnovers and came up with a 14-7 advantage in points off turnovers. It also helped UNM attempt 66 field goals to the Cowgirls’ 48.

Wyoming also had just four offensive rebounds and did not score any second-chance points. UNM scored eight.

“I like to be as positive as possible,” Bradbury said, “but I think Wyoming didn’t have many offensive rebounds because they didn’t miss many shots. I thought we kind of struggled defensively, but we were able to tough it out.”

The Cowgirls trailed for most of the game but stayed in striking distance until the final minute. Wyoming shot 52% from the field and hit 11-of-15 from the free throw line, including a pair of Tess Barnes makes that trimmed UNM’s lead to 68-65 with 1:13 left.

But Hooks scored the last of her points on a driving bank shot with 50 seconds left, and the Lobos came up with a pair of late defensive stands to seal the physical win.

“It’s the same every single year against them,” Langermann said. “It’s tough because they run so many screens and knock you off your assignment. But at the end we just focused on stopping them. We had the lead and we needed some stops to finish it.”

Wednesday’s win set up a first-place showdown Sunday, when the Lobos host UNLV for a nationally televised game. The Lady Rebels defeated Colorado State 70-61 on Wednesday, leaving just two teams undefeated in the Mountain West standings.

UNM stayed unbeaten largely by answering every Wyoming challenge with a key basket. Among the biggest was floater by Cumber after a backcourt steal. It ended a 6-0 Cowgirls run that tied the score at 53 and sparked a 7-0 run that put the Lobos ahead to stay.

“I feel like we’ve just found out what we’re good at,” Cumber said of her team’s recent hot streak. “The big thing is just sticking to the game plan. When we do that, we have a good chance to win. When we don’t, things go bad.”

Cumber hit two late foul shots to extend her program-record streak to 48 consecutive makes. Up to that point, Wyoming had attempted 15 free throws to UNM’s three.

But the Lobos were able to get to the basket with regularity, scoring 42 points in the paint — many coming on drives by Hooks, who often scored or set up teammates for easy baskets with her team-high four assists.

All-MWC post Allyson Fertig scored 17 points, and Barnes added 15 for Wyoming. Fertig had to work hard for her points, battling Joaquim and Moreland in the paint throughout the game.

“I thought we did a good job on Fertig,” Bradbury said. “She’s going to score, you just can’t let her score too easily.”

Lobo women defeat Wyoming Cowgirls: Photos