New Mexico State women's basketball falters in fourth quarter against rival New Mexico
LAS CRUCES - A decisive fourth quarter run lifted the New Mexico women's basketball team to a 73-66 victory over New Mexico State on Sunday at the Pan American Center.
Sunday's victory came just two days after the Lobos beat the Aggies in Albuquerque and it extended UNM's win streak over the Aggies to eight games.
UNM outscored the Aggies 28-10 in the fourth quarter and shot 71 percent from the floor and 5 for 7 from 3-point range.
"What we did up until (the fourth quarter) we did a really good job and stayed with the game plan," said Aggies coach Brooke Atkinson, whose team dropped to 3-4. "I thought we took some quick shots. We talked about playing inside-out and we got away from that. They are such a good transition team that we can't get in a running game with them."
Aggies guard Taylor Donaldson (10 points on 4 for 7 shooting) knocked down a triple with 9:22 to play to open a 59-45 lead, but UNM stormed back to tie the game at 63-63 with an 18-2 run, hitting four 3s and knotting the game on a Viane Cumber drive with 3:54 to play.
The Lobos outscored NM State 25-5 to end the game. As the Lobos began to heat up offensively in the fourth, NM State shot 22 percent from the field and 1 for 9 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
The Aggies finished the game shooting 39 percent from the field.
"We shot the ball well in the first half, but we can't rely on that," Atkinson said. "We are not a 30 3-point attempt per game team. I thought we settled. We had some turnovers and questionable shots and they are going to capitalize on that in transition."
NM State post Bigue Sarr proved the Lobos couldn’t handle her in last week’s 77-58 UNM victory in Albuquerque with 21 points.
Sarr scored 28 points on Sunday with 12 rebounds on Sunday.
The Aggies led 39-32 at halftime, leading by as many as 13 with 3:07 left in the half on a Deja Terrell lay up.
Sarr helped the Aggies maintain a 56-45 cushion entering the fourth quarter. Sarr scored 12 points in the third quarter, including a stretch where she scored six straight points, including a mid-range jumper, a steal on defense, followed by an offensive rebound and two made free throws.
But the fourth quarter was all UNM.
The Lobos went up by four on a Shaiquel McGruder triple with 2:04 left to play.
"A team like that, if they get one look at the bucket, they only made three 3s in the first half so we knew they were going to hit some," Atkinson said.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico State women's basketball falters in fourth vs. New Mexico
