Shaky offensive execution and a lax rebounding effort sent the CSU women’s basketball team to a second consecutive loss and third in its last four games.

The Lobos defeated CSU 68-54 Wednesday night in Moby Arena to drop the Rams to 1-3 in the Mountain West and 5-12 overall.

New Mexico ripped down 46 rebounds compared to 24 by CSU and nearly had as many offensive rebounds (19) as the Rams had defensive (21).

“They were pretty tenacious on the glass. They’re quicker they’re more athletic, I mean even when we had position at times they just won those battles,” CSU coach Ryun Williams said.

No player exemplified New Mexico’s advantage on the boards than sophomore guard Bryce Owens, who lead the game with 10 rebounds even though she was one of the shortest players on the court at 5’ 4”.

New Mexico’s 19 offensive rebounds lead to 22 second chance points and helped neutralize an otherwise strong defensive effort by CSU.

“You have to finish the play. We’d play really good defense and then for them to get the rebound it’s hard to play another 30 seconds of really good defense,” junior forward Sam Martin said. “We just beat ourselves up in that category.”

New Mexico lead by as many as 18 points in the second half after Vaughn hit a three-pointer with 4:13 left in the game.

The Lobos built their lead by shooting 51.6 percent in the second half after a dismal 30.3 percent performance in the first and forcing five key turnovers, three of which lead to open fast break layups.

“They were costly, it’s like we just presented the ball to them for layups,” CSU coach Ryun Williams said. “They got some separation, we got a little loose with some passes. The five in 30 minutes is positive, but the ones we did have we served them up on a platter.”

New Mexico senior guard Caroline Durbin converted a four-point play with 14:21 remaining in second half to extend a six point lead to 10 and her team continued to pull away from there.

“As they keep scoring and doing good things and getting rebounds and we are playing our hardest on defense it’s always going to be hard,” redshirt sophomore Mandy Makeever said. “I’m sure we got down on ourselves.”

New Mexico held a 26-21 at halftime despite only shooting 30.3 percent from the field in the first half.

CSU held the Lobos to just two points in the first 7:29 of the game and lead 9-6 with 11:23 left in the first half.

The Lobos responded with a 8-0 run to take a five point lead and never trailed for the remainder of the half.

CSU junior forward Martin hit back to back three-pointers with just over three minutes in the first half to bring the Rams within one, but New Mexico outscored CSU 6-2 to close the half.

The Rams will take the floor again Saturday against Fresno State in Moby Arena.