by AS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State women’s basketball team has now won 10-straight games and 14 of its last 15 games after defeating Chicago State, 70-53, inside the Pan American Center on Thursday night in front of the largest crowd at home this season.
The win was also the eighth-straight for the Aggies at home and catapulted NM State (14-6, 7-0 WAC) to an undefeated start in the Western Athletic Conference at the conclusion of the first half of conference play. Chicago State (3-17, 1-6 WAC), meanwhile, remains at the bottom of the conference.
The last time NM State was undefeated this far into conference play was in 1988 when it finished with a perfect 10-0 record in the High Country Athletic Conference. That season was also the last time the Aggies made the NCAA Tournament.
Although NM State was outshot by the Cougars, 38 percent to 42 percent, the Aggies once again forced over 20 turnovers after playing their high-pressure defense. NM State would convert 22 Chicago State turnovers into a 30-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
“We weren’t making shots today, we have to play better against UMKC on Saturday if we want to win,” Aggie head coach Mark Trakh said. “We’re 7-0 (in the WAC) and that’s better than being 0-7, but we still got a long way to go. One good thing I want to say about tonight though, the crowd was awesome, we got to keep on expanding on that, but the crowd was awesome tonight.”
Trakh picked up his 46th win at the helm of the NM State program. He breaks a tie with Patrick Knapp and John Sutherland for sixth place on the all-time wins list for the Aggie women’s program. He is now only three wins away from fifth-place Doug Hoselton.
Junior transfer Shanice Davis led the way for NM State with 23 points, including 14 after the break. The WAC leader in steals also added a career-high six steals.
Sophomore Brianna Freeman continues to pour it on in WAC play for the Aggies. Freeman marked her third-consecutive and team-leading fifth double-double of the season after posting 16 points and 10 rebounds. Sasha Weber added 14 points and Abby Scott (Warm Springs Tribe) another 10, all in the first half.
The Aggies seemed to be on their way to a runaway victory early as a Scott 3-pointer began an 11-2 run for NM State to open the game. But the Cougars bounced right back with seven-straight points to cut the Aggie lead to 11-9 with under 15 minutes left in the first half.
NM State would not score in over four minutes during the span. Davis finally ended the drought with a bucket to extend the lead to four points.
But Chicago State hung tough and after a Cougar 3-pointer the game was knotted up at 18-18 with just over eight minutes left in the opening frame.
The Aggies would come out of the under-8 media timeout, however, with seven-consecutive points to regain the lead. Chicago State would cut the lead to four in the final minute as NM State led 29-25 at intermission.
Scott marked all of her 10 points in the first half on 4-of-8 shooting. The Aggies, however, struggled from beyond the arc in the half, sinking only 4-of-18 shots from 3-point range.
NM State started the second half on a 10-5 run and after a couple of Freeman buckets inside the lane and a Weber 3-pointer the Aggie lead was at nine, 39-30, at the under-16 media timeout.
The Aggies continued to extend their lead throughout the next six minutes and after marking 10-straight points the lead had grown to its biggest at 17, 51-34, midway through the final half.
NM State would maintain its lead during the final 10 minutes of the game. A 3-pointer by freshman Emily Hardin with under a minute left gave the Aggies their biggest lead of the game of 20. A late Chicago State 3-pointer gave NM State the 17-point win.
The Aggies will look to make it 11-straight wins when they face Missouri-Kansas City on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. inside the Pan Am. The game will air live over Las Cruces radio on KRUX 91.5 with Adam Young on the call.
