NM State vs. Idaho, Women's Basketball, 24th Meeting The New Mexico State (18-12, 8-8) women's basketball team begins Western Athletic Conference (WAC) tournament action as the fifth seed against fourth-seeded Idaho at the Lawlor Events Center at 3:30 p.m. MT Wednesday afternoon.
The game marks the first matchup between the schools in the WAC tournament. A broadcast of the contest can be heard live on the Aggie Sports Radio Network with Kyle Doperalski on KGRT-FM 103.9.
NM State comes into the game after a 62-35 win at home over San Jose State on Senior Night to clinch the fifth seed over Boise State. In the WAC tourney, NM State is 6-4 after reaching three straight conference finals from 2006-08. Last season the Aggies bowed out to Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinals.
The Vandals ended the season with a 69-62 road win at third-seeded Nevada to complete a season sweep of the Wolf Pack and claim the fourth seed. UI enters the postseason as winners of six of its last nine games. However, Idaho has yet to win a WAC tournament game, faring 0-4 over the last four seasons.
Should the Aggies win, they would face the winner of top seed Fresno State and eighth-seeded Hawai'i at 1:00 p.m. Friday, Mar. 12.
Inside the Series Idaho has won four consecutive games after a 60-59 win in Moscow Feb. 20. The Vandals have swept the season series in both 2009 and 2010. The Vandals lead the all-time series 15-8.
Since the Aggies joined the WAC, Idaho has topped NM State 6-4 through 10 games. NM State's last win in the series was a 54-51 win on the road in 2008.
Scouting the Vandals The Idaho Vandals (10-19, 8-8) are coming off of a 69-62 road win at Nevada. UI finished the year at 9-8 in its last 17 games after starting the season 1-11.
On the hardwood, Idaho averages 59.6 points per game while shooting a 36.2 percent field goal percentage. The Vandals allow 65.5 points per game and 43.0 percent shooting from the floor. UI ranks 36th nationally with 6.9 three-point field goals made per game.
Junior forward Rachel Kloke leads the team averaging 14.8 points per game to stand 152d in the country. Her 42.2 percentage from the floor ranks 142nd nationally. Sophomore guard Shaena-Lyn Kuehu is second for UI, scoring 10.9 points per contest. Junior forward Yinka Olorunnife leads the team with 7.8 boards per game to rank 124th nationally while scoring an average of 10.4 each time out. Senior guard Charlotte Otero runs the offense, leading the team in assists with 3.3 apg. Otero rates 160th nationwide with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.2. Junior guard Bianca Cheever leads the team from long range. Cheever ranks 205th in the country with 1.8 threes made per game.
Last Time against the VandalsMOSCOW, Idaho - The New Mexico State women's basketball team lost a heartbreaker on the road as Idaho came from behind in the final minute to win 60-59 at the Cowan Spectrum Saturday afternoon.
The Aggies led throughout the game until surrendering the lead in the final stages of the game when Vandal sophomore guard Shaena-Lyn Kuehu scored her first bucket of the second half to give UI a 54-53 lead with 53 seconds remaining.
The lead exchanged hands four times over the next 40 seconds. Trailing 58-57, NM State junior guard Jasmine Lowe was whistled for a charge with 13.7 seconds left in regulation. Returning to the floor after a pair of timeouts, the Aggies fouled to send UI junior forward Yinka Olorunnife to the line with 8.6 seconds on the clock. The Vandal drained both from the stripe to make it 60-57.
Off the inbounds play sophomore guard Kaitlyn Soto drove the length of the court and was fouled by Olorunnife while penetrating the lane with just 2.8 ticks left. Soto hit her first attempt to close the gap to 60-58. The second free throw danced off the rim but NM State guard Madison Spence was fouled underneath the basket by Olorunnife in the scramble for the rebound with 0.3 seconds remaining. The Vandal fouled out on the play. Spence drained the first free throw to cut the UI lead to one but her second attempt rimmed out as time expired on the rebound attempt.
NM State falls to 16-11 overall and 6-7 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Idaho improves to 7-18 overall and 5-7 in the WAC after its second consecutive season sweep in the series.
The Aggies were led by their front court for the second straight game, as two forwards combined for 24 points and 14 rebounds. Sophomore Tabytha Wampler posted her second consecutive double-double, and second career double dip, with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman post Christina Fletcher scored a career-high 10 points in the game. Senior guard Crystal Boyd led all scorers with 20 points in the game while shooting 56 percent from the field.
The Aggies led 23-19 at halftime. NM State continued to build its largest lead of nine on a Spence leaner in the lane with 11:07 remaining in the second half to go ahead 43-34. However, Idaho doubled up NM State over the next 10 minutes during a 20-10 rally to take its first lead of the game of 54-53 with just under a minute remaining.
The Aggies shot 46 percent from the floor and held the Vandals to 36 percent shooting. UI made up the difference on the boards winning the battle 37-35 and at the line with 13 makes on 17 attempts.
Junior forward Rachel Kloke and Olorunnife led the Vandals with 15 apiece in the scorebook.
Boyd, Rosen Earn All-WAC Honors Two New Mexico State women's basketball players earned 2009-10 All-Western Athletic Conference honors following a vote of the WAC's head coaches last weekend.
Aggie senior guard Crystal Boyd received second team recognition while freshman guard Camila Rosen was named to the freshman team.
After sitting out last season, Boyd has thrived in an Aggie uniform this year in her first full season of action on the hardwood. This year Boyd leads the team in field goals made (174); rebounds (7.6 rpg); blocks (49); steals (67) and points (15.4 ppg) per game.
In addition, Boyd set numerous career highs including 26 points against WAC Champion Fresno State; 15 boards versus I-10 rival UTEP; six blocks against Nevada; four steals against Idaho and went six-of-six from the free throw line versus Rio Grande Rival New Mexico.
Boyd posted her first career double against UNM on Dec. 2 then went on to notch six more double-digit point and rebound performances this season. She scored in double digits in 26 of 30 games this season after starting each contest this year. The Little Rock, Ark., native posted 20 points or more on 8 occasions this year including 25 in an upset win over No. 21 Kansas on Jan. 3.
Rosen played 26 games in Crimson and White this year and moved into the Aggie starting rotation in the final nine games of the regular season.
On the season, Rosen averaged 2.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in 15.2 minutes of playing time. She led all NM State players who started games this season by shooting 48.1 percent from the field. Rosen also totaled a dozen blocks and 19 steals in her first year.
As a starter over the last nine games, Rosen's numbers have blossomed with 4.1 points and 2.9 boards and 22.4 minutes of time on the floor per contest. Rosen boasts a 55.6 percentage from the floor as a starter and is four-of-six from beyond the three-point line.
Perhaps Rosen's best outing of the year was during a 74-53 victory over Utah State at the Pan American Center on Feb. 23. The Berkeley, Calif., native scored a career-high 10 points against the blue Aggies, going 4-of-4 from the field including her first pair of career three-pointers at NM State.
Other notable career highs for Rosen include eight rebounds against New Mexico Highlands; four blocks at Idaho and four assists versus Alcorn State.
Madison Spence Becomes 17th Member of Aggies' 1,000-point Club After scoring 14 points against Nevada Jan. 30, junior Madison Spence became just the 17th Aggie to eclipse the 1,000-point career mark all-time at NM State. She is just the seventh player in the program's 37-year history to accomplish the feat prior to her senior year.
Spence boasts 1,095 points after playing in 92 games over three seasons in an Aggie uniform while never missing a start. This season, Spence has posted 339 points through 30 games to average 11.3 points per contest, just shy of her career average of 12.0.
Aggies' Magic Number 70 This season the 70-point mark is a key indicator on how the Aggies will fare in a particular matchup.
NM State is 11-2 when scoring at least 70 points this season. The only two blemishes came on the road at Cal Poly (90-86) Nov. 15 and at home against New Mexico (92-85) Dec. 2.
Defensively, the Aggies are 15-6 this year when holding opponents to 70 points or less. Four of NM State's losses in that scenario were suffered at home. They include a 62-55 loss to Louisiana Tech on Feb. 17, a 64-60 tumble to Nevada on Jan. 30, a 68-65 setback against Idaho on Jan. 20 and a 57-50 downfall against North Dakota on Nov. 23. The pair of road losses for NM State in the scenario occurred Feb. 20 at Idaho when the Aggies fell 60-59 and a 61-59 loss at Nevada Mar. 3.
NM State Starts 2010 Superlatively
- The Aggies' six-game win streak spanning December and January of this season was the longest for the program since the 1993-94 season when NM State strung together eight wins twice that year.
- The Aggies have started 2-0 in conference in three of the last four seasons under head coach Darin Spence.
- The 61-60 victory over No. 21 Kansas on Jan. 3 was the Aggies' third win over a ranked team in program history and occurred on the exact five-year anniversary of an upset over No. 22 Houston on Jan. 3, 2005 - both under the direction of Spence.
- The 87-83 overtime win at Boise State on Jan. 6 was NM State's first-ever win on the Broncos' home court in nine tries.
- NM State eclipsed last year's win total before conference play, posting its 10th win of the year against Kansas to begin the new year.
Aggies Stop Spartans on Senior Night The New Mexico State women's basketball team defeated San Jose State 62-35 Feb. 6 at the Pan American Center. The Aggies will be the fifth seed in the WAC Tournament, March 10-13.
The Aggies move to 18-12 on the season and 8-8 in WAC play. The Spartans end their season at 6-23 and 2-14 in conference games.
Four Aggies scored in double figures led by Crystal Boyd with 12. Kaitlyn Soto and Jasmine Lowe recorded 11 points each, followed by Madison Spence with 10 points. Tabytha Wampler had just two points but grabbed 11 rebounds. As a team the Aggies shot 26 percent from the floor.
Boyd started things off on the right foot in the second half with a jumper in the lane to give NM State a 24-18 lead. Rosen then hit a jumper to extend the lead to eight points at 26-18 with 18:33 left in the game. The Spartan got their first points of the second half on a lay-up inside, cutting the Aggie lead to 26-20 with 17:13 to go.
SJSU closed it to five points at 29-24 with 10:38 to go, after a long jumper by the Spartans. Soto then hit a running jumper in the lane and was fouled. She would make the free throw and give NM State a 32-24 lead with 9:28 left in the second half.
A lay-up by the Spartans cut the Aggies' lead to six but Boyd would answer at the other end, hitting a 3-pointer to give NM State a 35-26 lead with 7:21 to go in the game. Soto then hit a jumper in the lane to give the Aggies an 11point lead, as NM State was on a 9-2 run.
After two free throws by the Spartans, Spence hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Aggies a 40-28 lead with 5:46 remaining in the game. The Aggies then went on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 19 points at 47-28 with 4:12 to go in the game.
The Aggies continued to pour it on the Spartans over the next three minutes taking a 55-35 lead with 1:17 left in the contest. Soto and Lowe would each add two free throws late and a three pointer by Lowe would give the Aggies a 27-point win over San Jose State, 62-35.
Aggies Fall to Nevada at the Buzzer The New Mexico State women's basketball team fell 61-59 in the final seconds at Nevada when a left-side jumper by Wolf Pack junior forward Shavon Moore off of an inbounds play bounced in at the buzzer inside the Lawlor Events Center Mar. 3.
Junior guard Jasmine Lowe was fouled with 25 seconds remaining and split her free throws to put NM State up 59-57. On the rebound, senior guard Crystal Boyd was whistled for a foul that sent Nevada junior Tahnee Robinson to the line with 23.1 seconds left in regulation. Robinson made both attempts to knot it at 59.
An Aggie turnover with 10.7 ticks left gave Nevada the final possession. After a UN timeout, sophomore Tabytha Wampler stripped Moore of the ball underneath the basket but the ball bounced out of bounds off the Aggie at the end line to help UN set up the inbounds play for the winning basket.
Boyd led the Aggies with 23 points on 10 field goals from the field. Junior guard Madison Spence added 16 for NM State. NM State rallied from 12 down at the half and outscored the Wolf Pack 36-26 after the break.
Nevada out-rebounded NM State 45-28 and made 21 of 28 free throws while the Aggies canned 13 of 20 attempts from the stripe.
Wolf Pack junior Tahnee Robinson paced the Wolf Pack with 22 points in the game.
Lowe Claims WAC Player of the Week Honor Junior guard Jasmine Lowe was named the Verizon Wireless WAC Women's Basketball Player of the Week, the conference office announced, Monday, Jan. 11 after leading NM State to wins over Boise State and Hawai'i. The award marked the first career honor for Lowe.
Lowe, a San Francisco native, averaged 21.5 points on 57 percent shooting, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.5 steals as the Aggies opened WAC play 2-0. She scored a game-high 26 points in NM State's first-ever win at Boise State, including 12 of the team's final 27 points. She followed it up with a game-high 17 points, a career-high-tying six rebounds, four assists and three steals in a win over Hawai'i.
NM State Knocks off No. 21 KansasNew Mexico State senior guard Crystal Boyd connected on her second free throw at the line with 0.8 seconds remaining and then swatted away the final opponent inbound pass just past midcourt to seal a thrilling upset of No. 21 Kansas 61-60 in front of 1,388 fans at the Pan American Center Sunday afternoon.
The upset marked the Aggies' first win over a ranked opponent in exactly five years - NM State knocked off No. 22 Houston on Jan. 3, 2005 - with both victories under the direction of NM State head coach Darin Spence. NM State now leads the all-time series 2-1 over KU.
With the victory, NM State improves to 10-4 heading into conference play next week while No. 21 Kansas falls to 10-3 after their first road loss of the season.
Fittingly it was Boyd who secured the win at both ends of the floor. The Little Rock, Ark., native scored a career-high 25 points, including 20 of NM State's 34 first-half points, to go along with team-high eight rebounds in the contest. The veteran came onto the floor with something to prove against the highly-touted Jayhawks.
NM State scored the first four points of the second half and maintained the advantage over the first seven minutes after the break. In the final 20 minutes, Lowe took over helping manage the game at the point for the Aggies and scoring 14 of her 16 points in the half. Boyd picked up her fourth foul of the game at the 12:31 mark and went to the bench until the final four minutes of the game.
Aggies All-Time vs. Ranked Opponents Prior to the KU win, NM State last played a ranked squad in 2006 falling to No. 23 New Mexico 65-45. The Aggies are 3-11 all-time against teams in the top 25 since 1988. Head coach Darin Spence led the Aggies to two of their three program victories against ranked foes.
Spence Claims No. 400; Climbs NM State All-Time Win List NM State head coach Darin Spence earned his 400th career win in a victory against border-rival UTEP, 67-55, in front of a home crowd at the Pan American Center on Dec. 15. With the win, Spence attained the 400-win mark in his career against 187 losses over 19 seasons as a head coach. At the helm in Las Cruces he currently carries an 94-112 record over seven seasons.
In the game prior to his milestone victory, Spence guided the Aggies to a 71-65 victory over North Dakota State on Dec. 12. With the victory, the NM State general became the second-winningest coach in school history, notching his 82nd win in his 188th game as head coach.
NM State Wins Thanksgiving Classic The New Mexico State women's basketball team had a successful weekend, Nov. 27-28, as it won the Hotel Encanto Thanksgiving Classic, by beating Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (73-64) and Michigan (72-67). The Aggies averaged 72.5 points per game over the weekend, while holding their opponents to 65.5 points a contest.
Jasmine Lowe, Danisha Corbett, Madison Spence, Tabytha Wampler and Kaitlyn Soto all averaged over 10 points a game for the Aggies on the weekend.
At Home vs. on the Road The Aggies finished 12-6 in the Pan American Center this season and 6-6 on the road in 2009-10. Here are some statistical comparisons between home games and road games.
Category Home Road
Scoring 69.1 68.3
Opp. Scoring 60.9 68.5
Rebounding 39.9 36.8
Opp. Rebounding 39.3 41.1
Field Goal % 39.8 40.3
Opp. Field Goal % 37.8 39.0
Free Throw % 72.9 67.6
Opp. Free Throw % 60.3 70.5
Turnovers/Game 16.8 17.5
Opp. Turnovers/Game 19.7 18.1
18 Home Games a School Record The Aggies' 18 regular-season games scheduled at home this season is a school record.
Top 3
- 2009-10: 18 (12-6 at home, 18-12 overall)
- 1979-80: 17 (10-7 at home, 22-12 overall)
- 2007-08: 16 (14-2 at home, 23-9 overall)
Prior to the 2009-10 season, NM State played at least 15 regular season games at home in 10 of its 36 previous seasons. The Aggies averaged 20.7 wins overall in those 10 seasons while winning at least 19 games in eight of them.
The seven-straight home contests that NM State hosted from Nov. 20 - Dec. 15 tied the longest home stand in program history. The Aggies also played seven in a row at home in 1989-90, 1985-86, 1983-84, 1982-83 and 1976-77.
Courtesy: Tim Barnett-Queen
