Photo by Joe Grimando

ALBUQUERQUE- The UNM Lobos women’s basketball team (8-3) picked up win number eight against the Houston Cougars (5-5) in front of their home crowd at The Pit Dec. 13.

The final: UNM 63, Houston 41.

With the exception of the first 10 seconds, the Lobos held the lead for almost the entirety of the game.

Coming out hot was Lobo star Alyssa Hargrove who created turnover after turnover. The senior player brought a ton of physicality to the court as she logged three steals, and one block.

Hargrove also scored in double figures (11 points) for the second straight game, and was one of four Lobos to accomplish the feat: Destinee Hooks scored 12 points, Jessie Joaquim scored 13 points, and Joana Magalhães scored 10 points.

“My coach always told me to be ready, and stay ready. I was just ready to do my part,” Joaquim said.

The bigs on the Lobos made a huge impact as Joaquim was a rebound machine logging 12 boards while Emma Najjuma recorded seven rebounds and three blocks.

The Lobos stampede was halted in the second quarter as Magalhães found herself in foul trouble, and the team only scored seven points heading into the half.

“Offenisivley, not so good in the first off. Much more better in the second half, much more crisp,” UNM WBB head coach Mike Bradbury said.

After halftime, the Lobos found their groove again, scoring 36 points to put the Cougars to sleep.

A ton of their success came from beyond the arc including an absolute bullseye from Hargrove; assist from Magalhães.

“We made an emphasis in that second half to just keep driving in the middle, make it to the second or third side where we can get more offense going and better shots,” Hargrove said.

The Lobos head into Mountain West conference play, having won two straight games against Power 4 schools.

“I appreciate the crowd for coming out , maybe our best crowd of the year so far,” Bradbury said.

Next for UNM WBB is a date with the current number one team in the conference, the Boise State Broncos (9-2).

Boise State comes to The Pit December 17 with tipoff set for 7 p.m.