by THIS WEEK: The New Mexico State women’s basketball team hits the road this week for the first two games of a three-game Western Athletic Conference road trip. The Aggies (10-6, 3-0 WAC) meet Grand Canyon (6-9, 0-2 WAC) on Thursday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m. (MT) in Phoenix before heading to Orem, Utah to face off against Utah Valley (7-10, 1-1 WAC) on Saturday, Jan. 24, at 3 p.m.
NM State is on a six-game winning streak and has won 10 of its last 11 games. They are 3-0 in the WAC for the first time since 2008. The Aggies have never started conference play 4-0 in their 10 seasons in the WAC. The last time NM State started conference play 4-0 was in 1990 when they started High Country Conference play 6-0. The six-game winning streak is the longest for the Aggies under head coach Mark Trakh.
Bradley Nash (Navajo) and Abby Scott (Warm Springs Tribe) will be sure to have a large contingent of fans at the arena.
SERIES RECORD:
Grand Canyon – The Aggies and Antelopes met for the first time during last season’s conference play with each team winning on its home court. NM State won the first meeting in Las Cruces, 66-63, a win that snapped a seven-game losing streak. Brianna Freeman marked a career-high 16 points and added 10 rebounds for her first double-double as an Aggie. Sasha Weber also added a double-double. The ‘Lopes won in Phoenix, 66-56, in the regular season finale.
Utah Valley – NM state and the Wolverines are also knotted up in the series, two games apiece. Each team won on the opponent’s court last season. The Aggies won in overtime the last time they were in Orem, an 83-78 win that saw Sasha Weber mark what was then a career-high 22 points. Brianna Freeman hit her career high for the second time on the season after finishing with 16 points. In Las Cruces, Utah Valley took an 87-81 win over NM State. Abby Scott paced the Aggies with 29 points while Weber added another 15 points.
MEDIA COVERAGE: Both games this week will air live over Las Cruces radio on The Ticket AM 570 with the pregame starting 15 minutes prior to gametime with Adam Young.
Thursday’s game at Grand Canyon will be streamed live for free over the Internet on the WAC Digital Network. Go to www.wacsports.com or click on the link provided for access. Saturday’s game will also be streamed live for free on Utah Valley’s YouTube channel. Click on the link provided for access.
The Aggies have eight regular-season games left for broadcast over Las Cruces radio on The Ticket AM 570 and three games left that will be produced for television by the AggieVision production team. Any postseason play will also be aired live on The Ticket AM 570.
LIVE STATS ON THE WEB: Live stats will be available for fans at www.nmstatesports.com at no cost all season long. Fans can click on the ‘Audio/Video’ link at the top of the NMStateSports.com home page or go to the women’s basketball schedule page and click on the ‘related links’ tab to access the live stats.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Get all the updates of Aggie Athletics on Twitter and Facebook. Get in-game statistics and in-game updates on Twitter @NMStateAggies. Find out about all Aggie Athletics promotions and events on Facebook (NM State Aggies and The Aggie Student-Athlete). Also, new this season, follow us on Instagram at NMStateAggies for photos from all the Aggie sports world.
ABOUT THE AGGIES: NM State brings a young team to the table in 2014-15. The Aggies will carry only one senior and a total of five upperclassmen on their 15-player roster this season. The NM State roster also includes six newcomers, including four freshmen. The Aggies will rely heavily on juniors Sasha Weber and Abby Scott, both of whom were Preseason All-WAC selections.
NM State began the season by losing three-straight games on the road, beginning with a close defeat at the hands of I-10 rival UTEP in El Paso, Texas, 78-73. NM State then lost at Boise State, 70-45, and at Sacramento State, 93-85.
The Aggies started their home schedule by hosting the Hotel Encanto Thanksgiving Classic. NM State would go on to lose a couple of games during its home tournament, the first in a heavily contested, double-overtime game that saw the Aggies fall 100-97 to Weber State. The Aggies would then conclude the tournament with a 66-51 loss to Cal State Fullerton.
As the calendar turned to December, however, so did NM State’s fortunes as the Aggies went 6-1 in the final month of 2014 and are 10-1 in their last 11 games. NM State picked up its first two victories of the season after defeating Division-II Eastern New Mexico, 79-51, before picking up its first win versus New Mexico in 13 games, defeating the rival Lobos, 70-59. The Aggies then defeated North Dakota State and Cal Poly to conclude a six-game homestand.
At the Beach Classic in Long Beach, Calif., NM State suffered its first and only loss of the month after falling to Pacific, 67-62, in a game in which the Aggies trailed by as many as 19 in the second half, but rallied late to cut the lead to as little as three with under two minutes left. NM State then got back on the winning track by defeating Florida Atlantic, 57-44, to conclude the tournament.
The Aggies finished off their three-game road swing by defeating Southern Utah in Cedar City, 81-64, after a career-shooting day from freshman Zaire Williams, who finished with a career-high 25 points on 7-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. Her 25 points is the most scored by any Aggie this season and her seven made 3-pointers tied her for third most 3’s made in a game in program history.
NM State then finished nonconference play by easily handling NAIA-member Northern New Mexico, 81-39, inside the Pan American Center. Sophomore transfer Kassandra Harris finished with the Aggies’ third double-double of the season after posting a season high in both points and rebounds, 14 and 10 respectively.
The Aggies have started WAC play 3-0 for the first time since 2008 after defeating Missouri-Kansas City on the road before picking up home wins last week versus Bakersfield and Seattle U. Brianna Freeman eclipsed her career high in points in back-to-back games (UMKC and Bakersfield). Shanice Davis marked a career-high 32 points against Bakersfield, the most points any WAC player has scored this season.
