Lobo women's basketball falls to Cincinnati at Gulf Coast Classic Challenge

Nov. 29—Round three against the Power Four came down to the wire for the UNM women's basketball team.

The final bounce did not go the Lobos' way.

Nayli Padilla's 3-point try at the buzzer bounded off the rim and Cincinnati escaped with 63-60 win over New Mexico in Saturday's finale of the Gulf Coast Classic Challenge in Naples, Fla. UNM erased a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to grab a late 60-59 lead, but the Bearcats scored the final four points to pull out a victory.

"This one stings," UNM coach Mike Bradbury said, "and it will sting all the way back home. I'm not happy we lost, but I am proud of the way our team fought back. I feel like we grew as a team this week."

Padilla got a clear look at the basket off a UNM inbounds pass with 0.7 seconds left but her quick-release shot came up just short. The sophomore went 5-for-7 from long-range and finished with a game-high 19 points.

Unfortunately for the Lobos, Padilla was one of the few who shot well Saturday, and a dreadfully cold first half forced UNM to spend most of the game playing from behind. New Mexico went 8-for-40 from the field in the first half and trailed by as many as 11 points before finally finding its shooting touch.

"The unfortunate part is we played well in the first half," Bradbury said. "We played good defense and got the shots we wanted, but we must've missed 15 layups. We played well but we definitely didn't shoot well."

The Lobos trailed 29-21 at halftime and spent most of the third quarter making runs at the Bearcats. UNM trimmed the deficit to 33-31 on a Padilla 3-pointer and trailed 37-34 with 4:11 left in the period.

But Cincinnati answered every run, frequently by turning offensive rebounds into second-chance points. Myah Perry scored 16 points to lead the Bearcats, who had 18 second-chance points to UNM's 11 and rebuilt their lead to 52-42 on a Reagan Jackson jumper with 8:32 left.

The margin was 57-49 when Bradbury turned to his bench with 5:10 remaining. A driving basket by Padilla followed by 3-pointers by Joana Magalhães and Laila Abdurraqib accounted for an 8-0 run to tie the score with 2:58 left.

"We took out (Destinee Hooks, Alyssa Hargrove and Cacia Antonio) just to give them a quick rest," Bradbury said, "and the bench did a great job. After that, we just subbed for offense and defense the rest of the way."

Padilla's fifth 3-pointer later gave UNM a 60-59 lead, but the Lobos' next two possessions ended with turnovers. Cincinnati's Alliance Ndiba banked in a post layup with 1:15 left to put her team back in front.

Still down by a point, the Lobos forced a Bearcats miss with 13 seconds left, but Hargrove and Emma Najjuma knocked the rebound away from each other into the hands of Nbida. Oddly, nearly 10 seconds ticked off before Nbida passed to Jackson, who was fouled and hit both free throws with 3.9 seconds left.

"We thought we had fouled (Nbida) but (the officials) didn't call it," Bradbury said.

UNM had two shots at a tying 3, but Hooks' attempt was partially blocked and Padilla's narrowly missed. It was a rough outing for Hooks, UNM's leading scorer, who finished with 10 points on 3-for-14 shooting.

Antonio also had a cold-shooting game (3-for-13) but chipped in eight points and 11 rebounds. Najjuma had four points and 11 boards off the bench.

The Lobos (6-3) slipped to 0-3 against Big 12 opponents, having lost to Colorado and Texas Tech by big margins.

UNM's final two pre-conference games will be against Big 12 foes Arizona and Houston.

"If we'd shot 8-for-40 in the first half two weeks ago, we'd have lost by 25 points," Bradbury said. "This time everyone just kept working and we gave ourselves a chance to win. We're getting better and we have to keep getting better. We have another opportunity (Dec. 7 at Arizona)."