Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

UNM women pass rival NMSU

The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team celebrates a win with fans who traveled to Las Cruces to see them against New Mexico State at the Pan American Center on Sunday. (Mike Sandoval for the journal)

LAS CRUCES – As it turned out, the Lobos were never thrown off course.

After more than 33 minutes behind and up to 16 points, the University of New Mexico Lobos lit the Pan American Center for more than seven minutes on Sunday afternoon. LaTora Duff scored 24 points in a remarkable 40-minute effort to give UNM an impressive 73-66 win over host state New Mexico.

How unlikely was it?

The Lobos (8-3) were down 61:48 with eight minutes to go and struggled all day both scoring a goal and slowing the NMSU after Bigue Sarr. They never quite succeeded in the latter, as Sarr collected 28 points and 12 rebounds.

But New Mexico’s offenses caught fire on the route. LaTascya and LaTora Duff and Shaiquel McGruder combined four 3-point points during a 25-5 climb that turned an apparent defeat into UNM’s eighth straight win at the Rio Grande Rivalry.

“I definitely didn’t want to lose my last game against New Mexico State,” said senior Antonia Anderson, who scored a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. “Give it (the Aggies) credit, they hit shots and played really hard. I think that just shows the fight our team is having. “

Nobody played a bigger role than LaTora Duff, which two days earlier seemed unlikely. In the UNM’s 77-58 win against the Aggies in the pit on Friday, she accidentally pulled an elbow into her face. For the second half she sat down and held an ice pack in front of her face.

LaTora Duff showed up on Sunday to warm up with a face mask and promptly put on a show. She finished with 24 points, four rebounds, five assists, two steals and three turnovers in a complete game performance.

“I found out (Saturday) that I can play,” said LaTora. “I told (Trainer Mike Bradbury) that I can go as long as he takes me. I hated the mask. I couldn’t see properly or breathe properly, but I just kept going. It didn’t bother my game too much. “

It took the Lobos quite a while to find a winning formula as they struggled with losing ball and cold shooting, largely due to the aggressive half-field defense of the state of New Mexico.

The Aggies (3-4) now looked a lot more caged than in Albuquerque. NMSU went 1-to-9 from 3-point range in the pit but hit 5-of-9 in the first half of Sunday. Taylor Donaldson and Fama Thiem buried consecutive threesomes in the second quarter to give the home team a 30:19 lead.

“They fired shots and were really determined to get us off the 3-point line,” Bradbury said of the Aggies. “We just had to find a way to stay close until we could hit two or three shots and put together a run.”

Freshman Paula Reus, who had her best game as Lobo (six points, six rebounds, six assists and two blocks), helped spark a short run that reduced NMSU’s lead to 39:32 by halftime. But the Aggies quickly expanded their lead in the third and tossed the ball inside to Sarr, who often hit on offensive rebounds when she couldn’t open up in color.

But after falling behind by up to 16 points, UNM turned the tables. With three posts (McGruder, Anderson and Reus) the Lobos began making defensive stops, increased the pace and just caught fire.

An Anderson floater topped off a 15-2 run to tied the score at 63 at 3:54. After a Sarr free throw, McGruder followed a green layup with an open 3-pointer. The stunned Aggies never seemed to recover.

“Tora was excellent,” said Bradbury. “Really, the whole group we had out there in the fourth quarter was amazing. We almost did a comeback like this against Stephen F. Austin and this time we did it. Great resilience of this group. “

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