Jan. 9—Viané Cumber is inching her way into some pretty distinguished company on the University of New Mexico women’s basketball career lists.
What does the senior have to say about it? Not much.
Cumber, the Albuquerque native and Sandia High alum, swished two 3-pointers in UNM’s 73-67 win over Wyoming in the Pit on Wednesday, on her way to scoring 16 points. They were the 199th and 200th 3s of her career, making Cumber the fourth Lobo to record 200 career 3-pointers.
Asked about the milestone after the game, Cumber said simply, “If you prepare right for every game and play hard, those things will come.”
More of “those things” appear to be headed Cumber’s way as the Lobos (11-6, 4-0 Mountain West) prepare for a nationally televised conference showdown against UNLV (12-4, 4-0) at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Pit.
Cumber, a 5-foot-10 who ranks fifth in MWC scoring at 16.0 points per game, needs 26 more to become the 27th member of UNM’s 1,000-point club. She’s also on pace to grab 500 career rebounds (currently with 410), which could make Cumber only the 19th Lobo to collect both 1,000 points and 500 boards.
Then there’s the elephant in the locker room — Cumber’s sizzling numbers from the free throw line. She hit two against Wyoming, bringing her program-record streak to 48 consecutive makes. She’s leading the country in free-throw percentage at 97.9% and has a legitimate shot to break UNM’s accuracy records for a season (93.3% by Katie Montgomery in 2006-07) and for a career (87.2 by Julie Briody from 2004-07). Cumber stands at 87.8% for her career.
Cumber is not talking about her free throw streak, and UNM coach Mike Bradbury has jokingly chided reporters for bringing it up and “trying to jinx her.” Bradbury also said Cumber’s streak is the longest he’s seen during his coaching career.
“I hope it continues for the rest of the year,” he said.
NET GAINS: Despite being tied for first in the MWC standings, UNM remains sixth in the league in NCAA NET rankings. The Lobos ranked 130th nationally as of Thursday.
Still, UNM has gained more ground than any of its conference rivals since league play began, climbing 23 spots from 153rd. The Lobos helped their cause with wins over top-100 foes San Diego State (then-84th) and Wyoming (93rd).
UNM will have an opportunity to keep climbing with upcoming games against UNLV (50th), Colorado State (87th) and Boise State (114th). Future games against San Jose State (293) and Utah State (315) will not help, but the Mountain West remains seventh nationally in conference NET, according to warrennolan.com.
“This league is really tough this year,” Bradbury said. “We’re in a difficult stretch of games right now and there’s another stretch just like it coming up in a few weeks. All you can do is prepare for the next game, play the best you can and move on. It’s a daily grind.”
GROWING UP FAST: Freshman guard Joana Magalhães has endured some ups and downs since earning a starting spot to open the season. The downs included some high-turnover games, occasional foul trouble and cold perimeter shooting.
Magalhães has shown steady improvement, however, most notably since MWC play began. She’s averaging 8.5 points, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.8 turnovers during UNM’s 4-0 league start.
Magalhães went 2-for-3 from 3-point range and was under pressure late in Wednesday’s win over Wyoming, stepping in at point guard when Alyssa Hargrove fouled out with 3:13 left and the Lobos nursing a 66-63 lead. The freshman played mistake-free ball down the stretch to help UNM secure the win.
“Jo played a lot of minutes at a position she doesn’t play a lot,” Bradbury said. “She has no fear and did a really good job. At this point, I’ve got a lot of confidence in her.”
