ALBUQUERQUE -- Without BYU's star Ambrosia Anderson, New Mexico (21-8, 11-5) dominated for the last 36 minutes of Saturday's game in New Mexico to defeat BYU (23-4, 13-3) by 25 points, 74-49. The game marks the first road loss for the Cougars this season.
Anderson twisted her knee during the first ten minutes of the game. She tried to return during the second half, but only played a couple of minutes. She is probably for the Mountain West Tournament this week.
"This was a very disappointing game," head coach Jeff Judkins said. "It's hard to stay motivated once you know you've already won the MWC title. It really hurt us to lose Bro (Anderson), but New Mexico is also a well-coached team that hit extremely well today."
BYU started off on fire, hitting its first six shots of the game. A three pointer from Ambrosia Anderson, back-to-back buckets from Dani Kubik, a layup by Jennie Keele and two three pointers from Mallary Gillespie gave the Cougars an 15-5 lead four minutes into the game.
The Cougars then went ice cold, scoring just nine points during the last 16 minutes of the half. New Mexico capitalized on the drought to score 35 points during that span of time.
New Mexico took the lead at the 11:38 mark off a three pointer from Julie Briody and never looked back. The Lobos hit an astounding 7-10 from behind the arc during the first half, including seven straight.
With less than three minutes left, BYU had several defensive breakdowns that included fouling Briody on a three-point attempt and Dionne Marsh on a turnaround jumper. Briody converted all three free throws, while Marsh hit the extra point, giving New Mexico a 38-22 lead.
The Cougars got the last points of the half as Melinda Johnsen hit a driving layup to cut the lead to sixteen, 40-24, which is the most BYU has been down at the break this season.
BYU came out more aggressive in the second half with Keele hitting a quick layup and a three pointer, but New Mexico responded with a 7-0 run to deflate the Cougars.
The Lobos went on another 7-0 run with 13 minutes left in the game with buckets from Jana Francis, two from Marsh and a free throw by Briody, widening the lead to 21 points, 57-36.
New Mexico shot 42 percent from the field, 43 percent from three-point land and 84 percent from the free-throw line, while BYU hit just 32 percent of its field goals, 28 percent of its three-point attempts and 57 percent of its free throws.
Marsh led all scorers with 17 points, followed by Briody with 16. Briody led the Rebels with eight rebounds, while Kimball chipped in 7 and Abbie Letz and Katie Montgomery each added six boards.
Kubik was the only Cougar to score in double figures, posting 11 points and eight rebounds. The game marks the 14th time this season she has scored in double figures.
The Cougars head to the MWC Championships Tuesday-Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo. as the top seed. BYU plays on Wednesday at 6 p.m. against the winner of the Colorado State-San Diego State game. For more information visit themwc.com.
Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs New Mexico
3/4/06 2:06 p.m. at Albuquerque, N.M. (The Pit) -------------------------------
VISITORS: BYU 23-4, 13-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
33 ANDERSON, Ambrosia.. f 1-6 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 1 3 1 0 0 0 12
35 JOHNSEN, Melinda.... f 2-5 0-1 2-2 0 3 3 2 6 2 0 0 0 28
45 KUBIK, Dani......... c 5-9 0-1 1-6 3 5 8 4 11 3 2 1 0 21
15 KEELE, Jennie....... g 3-6 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 7 2 1 0 0 21
30 GILLESPIE, Mallary.. g 2-6 2-5 2-2 0 2 2 0 8 3 2 0 1 30
01 SELJAAS, Nancy...... 1-8 0-4 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 1 1 1 0 16
10 STRATTON, Laura..... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 8
23 BROWN, Brit......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
24 HUTSON, Vanessa..... 1-1 1-1 0-0 1 1 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 15
32 SLADE, Shawnee...... 0-6 0-1 0-0 2 3 5 1 0 1 1 0 1 18
41 FADDIS, Brittany.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 4
52 RILEY, Lauren....... 3-4 0-0 1-2 2 3 5 1 7 0 3 0 1 16
54 KING, Cassie........ 0-2 0-0 2-2 2 2 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 9
TEAM................ 2 2 4 1
Totals.............. 18-56 5-18 8-14 13 25 38 15 49 15 13 2 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-27 37.0% 2nd Half: 8-29 27.6% Game: 32.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 27.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 7-10 70.0% Game: 57.1% 4
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HOME TEAM: New Mexico 21-8, 11-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 LETZ, Abbie......... f 3-12 1-7 0-0 2 4 6 1 7 2 2 1 2 31
24 FRANCIS, Jana....... c 3-6 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 3 7 3 0 0 0 23
13 MONTGOMERY, Katie... g 1-3 1-3 2-2 1 5 6 1 5 2 0 0 0 34
14 VOGT, Judy.......... g 3-3 3-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 9 3 1 0 0 21
41 KIMBLE, Brandi...... g 2-7 1-2 0-0 4 3 7 0 5 4 2 0 3 23
00 SASO, Morgan........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
11 BLACK, Lindsay...... 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 9
15 E-NUNU, Timi........ 0-2 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 4
23 MAJEWSKI, Rachel.... 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 2
25 OLUDE, Wande........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
33 MARSH, Dionne....... 6-10 0-0 5-7 0 4 4 1 17 0 0 0 0 21
40 BRIODY, Julie....... 4-9 3-5 5-6 2 6 8 1 16 6 1 0 0 24
44 HARTILL, Angela..... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 6
TEAM................ 2 3 5
Totals.............. 25-59 10-23 14-17 11 27 38 10 74 21 8 3 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-26 46.2% 2nd Half: 13-33 39.4% Game: 42.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-10 70.0% 2nd Half: 3-13 23.1% Game: 43.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-10 90.0% 2nd Half: 5-7 71.4% Game: 82.4% 1
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Officials: Peter Contreras, Mike Petty, John Haefeli
Technical fouls: BYU-None. New Mexico-None.
Attendance: 15119
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 24 25 - 49
New Mexico.................... 40 34 - 74