NM State Hosts Battle of I-10 Against UTEP
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- The NM State women’s basketball team continues their conference season facing UTEP in the I-10 Rivalry battle hosted by the Aggies. Both squads sit 1-1 in the CUSA standings after week 1, looking to improve their seasons.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Who: NM State (8-7, 1-1 CUSA) vs UTEP (8-5, 1-1 CUSA)
Where: Pan American Center – Las Cruces, New Mexico
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM MT
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Statistics: StatBroadcast
All-Time Series Record: NM State leads 55-43
Last Meeting: W 66-59 (February 10, 2024)
THE PRODIGY
Molly Kaiser is a certified legend in the history of NM State Women’s Basketball. The Watauga, Texas, native has spent all five seasons with the Crimson & White, making her the longest-tenured Aggie on the 2024-25 roster. Kaiser has over 1,500 career points, highlighted by her single greatest performance to date earlier this season.
The 5-foot-8 guard notched 35 points on hyper-efficient shooting against Utah Tech on Nov. 7. She sank 14 of 21 field goals, three of five 3-pointers and four of five free throws en route to the highest individual output since Danesia Williamson on March 12, 2014. In addition to her offensive explosion, the Saginaw High School product raked in four steals for a career high. For the season, Kaiser ranks 17th in the nation with 20.4 points per game.
Last month, Kaiser was named Conference USA Player of the Week after an explosive two-game series against rival New Mexico. She was also selected to the NCAA’s Starting Lineup of the Week as she combined 55 points against the Lobos, including going 9-for-9 at the charity stripe in the second game of the weekend.
FRESH FISH
Picking up her first Conference USA Freshman of the Week award, Madi Gewirtz now sits as the first and only player in Aggie program history to earn the honor. In the rivalry week facing the Lobos, she tallied 17 points, six steals, three rebounds and one assist. She produced four steals over the week as she set the team’s high in steals in a single game this season.
THE ADAMS FAMILY
Jody Adams spent nine years at Wichita State, amassing a 170-121 record (.584). After departing WSU in 2017, the Shockers named Keitha Adams their next head coach. The latter Adams spent six seasons in Wichita before returning to El Paso in the 2023 offseason. The two coaches will now meet in a head-to-head competition as both sides look to earn a crucial win to start the second half of the CUSA slate.
FANTA-STIC
Midway through last season, NM State bolstered its frontcourt with the addition of Fanta Gassama. The now-senior went on an impressive run at the end of 2023-24, averaging 9.0 rebounds and nearly 10.4 Pts per game over the final eight contests of the regular season. In the CUSA Quarterfinals, the Spain native was exceptional, collecting 20 points and 17 rebounds. Gassama was perfect from the floor, sinking all eight of her field goals and going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line as the Aggies prevailed 63-58 in an upset over No. 3 seed FIU.
This year, Gassama started off with a bang at UC Irvine. She paced both teams with 22 points as she hit eight of her 16 field goal attempts. Her presence was most felt down low, however, as the Mataró, Spain, native hauled in 16 rebounds. Three days later against Utah Tech, Gassama tallied her second double-double of the young campaign, notching 14 points and as many rebounds. Gassama holds the only four double-doubles by an Aggie so far this season. This season, the senior ranks 37th in Division I with 9.7 rebounds per game and 1st in Conference USA. Last week facing Sam Houston, Gassama earned another double double as she notched 13 points along with 10 rebounds to give the Aggies a comfortable win over the Bearkats.
VETERAN LEADERSHIP
The Aggies are led by 11 upperclassmen, including nine seniors. Molly Kaiser and Diarrah Sissoko are each in their fifth season of collegiate basketball, headlining a 15-person roster that has 50 combined seasons of experience, including 32 at NM State. Four Aggies are on at least their third season in the program: Molly Kaiser (five), Sylena Peterson (four), Sianny Sanchez-Oliver (four) and Lucía Yenes (three).
INTERNATIONAL AGGIES
There are seven Aggies with international backgrounds on the 2024-25 roster. Four of those seven hail from Spain (Fanta Gassama, Noah Garcia, Marta Guilera, Lucía Yenes). Hungary (Anna Csenyi), Netherlands (Loes Rozing) and Mali (Diarrah Sissoko) are also represented on this year’s squad. Four of six Aggie newcomers are form overseas, rounding out a roster that is 38.3% international. 369 of the Aggies’ 822 points this season have come courtesy of international members, accounting for nearly 40% of the team’s production thus far.
GUESS WHO’S BACK… BACK AGAIN
There are two notable absences in the paint as Honorable Mention All-CUSA selection Ene Adams was joined by 6-foot-5 Femme Sikuzani Masudi as the two key departures from last year. However, nearly every rotational guard and wing has returned in action in 2024-25, with 75.66% of the 2023-24 point production still on the roster. Additionally, the returning Aggies accounted for 85.14% of all assists and 97.71% of 3-pointers made (128 of 131) a season ago.
CONFERENCE NUMBERS
The Aggies currently sit in 3rd within CUSAin points per game (68.5) and 47.6 field goals per game, led by Crimson senior, Molly Kaiser who is 2nd with her 21 points per game mark. She has also helped contribute with the team’s steal per game mark as the Aggies also hang in 4th in the conference with a 10.5 steal per game stat.
ONE LAST RIDE
This iteration of the Aggies revolves around fifth-year legend Molly Kaiser. The Watauga, Texas, native exercised her extra year of eligibility that she earned from the NCAA’s response to COVID-19, electing to spend her fifth and final campaign with the Crimson & White. In 2023-24, Kaiser led the Aggies in games played (31), games started (31), points (463), points per game (14.9), minutes per game (34.2), field goals made (165), free throws made (107) and free-throw percentage (86.3).
Last season, Kaiser drove and buried a patented elbow jumper shot to give her 1,000 career points, with every bucket coming as a member of the Crimson & White. She became the 25th member of the 1,000-point club, and the first since Gia Pack, who played for the Aggies from 2016-2020.
TEAM WORK
After facing Sam Houston, the Aggies scored their highest point game in a conference match since they posted 80 in a win over Chicago State on Feb. 26, 2022, while finishing last night with the team’s highest shooting percentage this season. The 79 points also marks the third-highest point total for the Aggies this season. NM State used a season-high shooting percentage of 63.8% to reach this mark as they went 30-47 from the field, which was the second-most field goals made by the Aggies this season.
SCOUTING UTEP
The Miners are led by Keitha Adams as she enters her 18th season as head coach in El Paso. In her first season back in the Borderland, Adams led the team to a 12-19 overall record, including 6-10 in conference play. The Miners made it to the second round of the 2024 Conference USA Tournament, led by all-conference selections Jane Asinde (All-CUSA First Team, All-Defensive Team, Newcomer of the Year), Erin Wilson (All-CUSA Second Team), and Aaliyah Stanton (All-Freshman Team). Adams was named the C-USA Coach of the Year in 2008, 2012 and 2016, and the WBCA Regional Coach of the Year in 2008. She’s the lone C-USA women’s basketball coach to claim the honor three times.
Leading the Minors in scoring is Ivane Tensaie, who currently averages 13.5 points per game with a 43.8 3-pointer percentage. She has recorded has marked 175 total points in her 141 attempts, finishing with 42 shots from the arc this season.
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