It wasn’t always pretty, but when the game was over, the New Mexico Lobos women’s basketball team had notched a win.
With LaTora Duff’s career-high 25 points, the Lobos handed Air Force a 72-57 loss Wednesday night at the Pit.
The Falcons kept New Mexico in check through much of the game, forcing the Lobos out of their preferred offense. But Duff and Jaedyn De La Cerda, who finished with 19 points, powered the team through a final 15 minutes to secure the victory, the school’s website reported.
“Nothing’s ever going to be pretty against Air Force,” coach Mike Bradbury said in the postgame news conference. “Survival is about the best you can hope for, and we survived.”
“I looked at how close they were guarding me,” Duff said after the game, according to the Albuquerque Journal. “We couldn’t run our sets because they were right up on us. I just told myself to be aggressive, try to get to the basket, and make something happen.”
The Lobos (20-6 overall, 11-2 in the Mountain West) had solid shooting, hitting 52.7% of their shots, including half of their attempts from behind the arc.
The Falcons (13-11, 7-6) played the Lobos pretty evenly through most of the first three quarters, and had a 36-45 lead midway through the third before Duff got hot, scoring 21 of her points in 15 minutes of play.
A strong fourth, where the Lobos outscored the Falcons 24-17, sealed it. De La Cerda was responsible for a third of those final-quarter points.
The Lobos dropped their Saturday afternoon game against Nevada on the road. They are in action next on Wednesday, when they host Utah State.
