by By John Vu, NM State Sports
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – A pair of free-throws from Sasha Weber brought New Mexico State within 67-65 with 24 seconds to go, but a missed long-ball followed by a layup and two free-throws from UTEP saw the Aggies dropped a 71-65 decision to the Miners on Saturday at the Pan American Center in the Battle of I-10.
It was the first loss seen by the Aggie (6-2) women on their home floor since Nov. 29 of last year, snapping a 17-game winning-streak at home. The 17-straight victories at home is the third-longest in program history behind the squads from 1992-94, who won 18 in a row.
Trailing 50-44 heading into the final 10 minutes of play, NM State and UTEP (7-0) exchanged baskets to start the fourth quarter until a timely long-ball fromShanice Davis and layup from Tamera William cut the Miner lead to 59-58 with 4:59 left to play.
UTEP’s Agata Dobrowolska, who finished with 15 points, hit a jumper down the stretch to bring the lead back up to three before Davis, again, nailed a crucial 3-pointer to knot it up at 61 with 3:24 left in the game.
Davis picked up her 10th point of the game and gave NM State its first lead of the game, 62-61, at the 1:59 mark when knocked down the front-end of her two shots at the charity stripe.
The Miners quickly regained the lead on a jumper from Starr Breedlove, who was one of four UTEP players in double-figures, but William was able to hit her second free-throw attempt to tie it back up at 63 with 1:09 left to play.
On the next possession, UTEP’s LuLu McKinney drilled a deep 3-pointer from the top to put the Miners on top, 66-63, as they came away with the 71-65 win.
NM State came out flat in the first quarter, trailing by as much as 14, but four-straight 3-pointers from Abby Scott (Warm Springs Tribe) and Zaire Williams followed by a bucket from Weber had both teams tied at 23.
Scott finished the game with a team-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, all from beyond the arc.
The second quarter, where NM State has been the most productive all year, was outscored 18-9 and trailed 41-32 at the break.
Weber nearly finished with a double-double on Saturday. The senior guard had 10 points and pulled down nine boards for NM State to go with six assists.Brianna Freeman and William each had nine points while Brooke Salas chipped in with seven points and five boards.
The Aggies now get a week off to regroup before playing host to Eastern New Mexico in their final home game of 2015 at 7 p.m. on Dec. 14 at the Pan Am Center.
