LAS VEGAS — New Mexico went scoreless over the final 7:36 Monday, turning an 11-point lead into a 63-62 loss to Seattle at The Pit. The Lobos’ collapse left the Mountain West with three wins in nine games on the opening day of women’s basketball. Air Force beat Denver behind Jayda McNabb’s 18 points and 18 rebounds. UC Davis and UTEP pulled away from Division II opponents after halftime. UNLV, Hawai‘i and San José State lost to Big Ten teams, while Santa Clara beat Wyoming in Laramie. Reno closed the schedule with a loss at WCC regular-season champion Loyola Marymount.
Seattle 63, New Mexico 62
Cristina Jones stole the ball and scored with 1:31 remaining as Seattle erased New Mexico’s 11-point fourth-quarter lead. The Lobos missed their final 12 shots after leading for more than 34 minutes at The Pit.
“They punched us and we didn’t respond very well,” New Mexico coach Amy Eagan said.
The Lobos missed three shots in the final 15 seconds, including Gracie Kelsey’s turnaround jumper at the buzzer. Laila Abdurraqib finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Jones also finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Seattle collected 18 offensive rebounds and outrebounded New Mexico 43-33.
Air Force 66, Denver 45
Air Force held Denver to nine points in each of the final two quarters, breaking a halftime tie at Clune Arena.
Jayda McNabb finished with 18 points and 18 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive glass. Jordyn DeVaughn led Air Force with 19 points and five assists, while Keelie O’Hollaren added 11 points. The Falcons shot 37.3%, but their defense held Denver to 30.6% and produced 11 steals. Air Force also outrebounded the Pioneers 45-34. Karolina Padilla scored 16 points to lead Denver in the loss.
UC Davis 82, Jessup 42
UC Davis outscored Jessup 27-7 in the third quarter after entering halftime with a nine-point lead. Tegan Young scored eight points during the quarter as the Aggies began a 54-point second half.
“Our halftime speech was ‘It’s not good enough,’” Young said.
Young finished with 17 points, matching her career high with UC Davis. Freshman Rebecca Donnelly scored 16 on 5-of-6 shooting and made all four 3-point attempts. Freshman Marta Forsline added 11 points and eight rebounds. All nine Aggies scored, and eight made a 3-pointer. UC Davis finished 13 of 29 from beyond the arc and outrebounded Jessup 48-25.
UTEP 100, Western New Mexico 64
UTEP forced 27 turnovers and scored 41 points off them in a season-opening home victory over Western New Mexico at the Don Haskins Center. The Miners led 45-34 at halftime before a 29-point third quarter pushed their advantage to 24.
“The third quarter our defensive intensity was much better,” coach Keitha Adams said.
Zainab Olalekan led UTEP with 19 points. The Miners shot 60% overall, collected 19 steals and scored 60 points in the paint. They scored at least 21 points in every quarter. Jordan Sapien had 20 points for Western New Mexico, which scored only 30 points after halftime.
No. 3 USC 100, UNLV 68
USC outscored UNLV 31-10 in the third quarter to turn a 13-point halftime lead into a 34-point advantage at T-Mobile Arena. The Lady Rebels committed 24 turnovers and shot 34.9% against the third-ranked Trojans.
“That was game one of a long season ahead of us, and the first step of this journey against a really great opponent,” UNLV coach Lindy La Rocque said.
Jazzy Davidson scored 23 points for USC, which shot 58.8%. Maia Rosarion finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for UNLV. The Lady Rebels collected 21 offensive rebounds and scored 22 second-chance points despite the loss.
Santa Clara 84, Wyoming 50
Santa Clara led Wyoming 48-27 at halftime, then scored 13 unanswered points during a third-quarter stretch in which the Cowgirls missed 10 consecutive field-goal attempts. The run gave the Broncos a 63-30 lead in Laramie.
Norah Clark led Wyoming with 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals, making all nine free throws. No other Wyoming player reached double figures. Santa Clara shot 50% and made 12 of 27 attempts from 3-point range. Wyoming shot 29.1%. The Broncos outrebounded the Cowgirls 45-28 and scored 24 points off turnovers. Sophie Glancey had 15 points and nine rebounds; Maia Jones added 14 points.
Nebraska 81, San José State 54
San José State committed 32 turnovers and allowed 19 offensive rebounds, giving Nebraska 74 field-goal attempts to the Spartans’ 45 in Lincoln. Nebraska shot 40.5%, only slightly better than San José State’s 40%, but won by 27.
Freshman Erika Mace scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and made all three 3-point attempts. She scored all 12 Spartan points in the third quarter, when Nebraska scored 26 to take a 63-33 lead. Sydnie Rodriguez added 15 points off the bench. Britt Prince led Nebraska with 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. Eight Spartans made their team debuts Monday.
Oregon 87, Hawai‘i 54
Oregon collected 24 offensive rebounds and scored 36 points off turnovers. Those extra possessions helped the Ducks make 11 3-pointers in Eugene.
Bailey Flavell scored a career-high 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting for Hawai‘i. Ritorya Tamilo had 14 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks, one short of the school record. The Rainbow Wahine cut a 28-10 first-quarter deficit to 47-33 at halftime. Oregon ended the third quarter on an 11-0 run to lead 71-43. Mallory Heyer scored 16 points; Ehis Etute added 15 points and 14 rebounds.
Loyola Marymount 89, Reno 64
Loyola Marymount shot 56.9% and had four players score at least 15 points, beating Reno in Kelly Sopak’s coaching debut with the Wolf Pack. LMU led by one after the first quarter, then outscored Reno 21-11 in the second to take a 40-30 halftime lead.
Shawnee Nordstrom and Maya Hernandez each scored 17 points for the Lions. Nordstrom also had six assists and four rebounds. Kayla Jones added 16 points and seven rebounds, while Ivana Krajina scored 15. LMU outscored Reno 49-34 after halftime. The Wolf Pack hosts Sacramento State on Saturday night for its first home game under Sopak.