The Lobos tied
a record for
allowing the fewest points by an opponent – 18, first set in a
win over
Tennessee State in 2003 – and posting the second largest margin
of victory
against an opponent with 73 points. The record is 79 set in a
102-22 win over
Morgan State in 2005.
New Mexico got
scoring from
12 of 13 players as head coach Yvonne Sanchez was able to play
her bench
extensively in the game – in fact, only starter Brcye Owens
played more minutes
than any other bench player.
“It is a little
strange in
some respect because you look down (the bench) and there’s not a
lot of kids in
street clothes,” said Sanchez, referring to her team’s sliver
thin bench last
season. “I’m really proud of these guys. I think we have an
opportunity to gel.
I think we need to do that better.”
Senior guard
Caroline Durbin
led all scorers with 21 points while freshman forward Khadijah
Shumpert added
17 points and eight rebounds. Senior Jayme Jackson and freshman
Brea Mitchell
each added nine points while senior Jordan Erskine and Deeva
Vaughn each pulled
in eight rebounds.
Northern New
Mexico, which
is an NAIA school from Española, N.M., was paced by Nisa
Duran and Michelle
Montes, who each scored 4 points. Dorsheka Lopez pulled down a
team-high six
rebounds.
New Mexico
started on a 19-0
run and pushed the lead out to 34-4 at the 8:04 mark as the
Eagles immediately
found themselves overmatched. The Lobos led 50-11 at halftime.
UNM scored 26
points the
open the second half to extended the lead to 76-11 before NNMC
was able to get
its first points on the board in the second frame.
“Those games
can get pretty
sloppy,” said Sanchez. “I was pretty pleased by the fact that we
oly had 12
turnovers. We slowed some things down. We executed on offense. I
like the fact
that the game didn’t get sloppy and that we got in our offense
and executed.”
In addition to
the five
newcomers on the team, who earned high marks from their coach,
Sanchez also
said it was good to see the return of Halasz, who suffered her
second
season-ending knee injury before the 2011-12 season even
started, and Vaughn,
who was relegated to the bench after suffering a series of
concussions mid
season.
“I thought
Sarah starting –
she didn’t have jitters,” said Sanchez. “She just went in there
and did some
good things early. It looked good for her to be out there
hustling.
“And Deeva
looked good,”
said Sahcnez. “You know she didn’t shoot well and her stat line
isn’t great but
she had eight rebounds and she looked good.”
New Mexico
finishes the
exhibition slate on Saturday when they play Eastern New Mexico
in The Pit. Tip
off is 2 p.m. The Lobos open the regular season on Friday, Nov.
9 against
Northern Arizona in The Pit. Tip time for that game is 7 p.m.