NMSU women start fast, hold off Utah Valley in WAC semis
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The top-seeded New Mexico State women’s basketball team leapt out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back in its dominant 58-44 victory over No. 4-seed Utah Valley on Friday at Orleans Arena in the Western Athletic Tournament semifinal showdown.
“I thought the kids came out ready to play and I thought our defense was great for three quarters,” said head coach Mark Trakh. “We had some lapses in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over. But, we had the game in hand when that happened. We did a better job on [Sam] Loggins than we had all year. Brianna Freeman and Tyler Ellis really did a good job defensively.”
The NM State defense returned to form on Friday, forcing nine first quarter turnovers and held Utah Valley from making a field-goal at the end of 10 minutes. UVU ended the game with 19 turnovers compared to NM State’s 13.
The last time the Aggies held an opponent from making a field-goal the entire quarter was at New Mexico on Dec. 12, 2015, in the third quarter.
The Wolverines finally picked up their first field-goal of the game at the 9:15 mark when Patrice Toston scored on a fast break layup. After another bucket from Toston, Sasha Weber reeled off 12-straight points to give the Aggies a 22-10 lead with 4:15 left in the half.
Shanice Davis followed up with a triple of her own as Moriah Mack drove into the lane to give NM State a 27-14 lead at the break.
The Aggies’ held Utah Valley to just 25-percent (4-of-16) in the first half, including 13 turnovers that NM State turned into 12 points.
Both teams exchanged punches to the third quarter, but none was more lethal than the 14-2 run NM State went on after Utah Valley opened the second-half with an easy lay-up from Loggins. The run was capped off by Brooke Salas’ spin-move in the paint, which gave NM State its largest lead of the game at the 5:11 mark – 41-18.
With a 47-27 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play, the Aggies’ defense kept Utah Valley in check until the clock struck zero to send NM State to the WAC Championships.
As a team, the Aggies shot 40-percent form the floor and 34.7-percent from 3-point range. Mack finished with a team-high 14 points in addition to her six boards. Davis and Weber each chipped in with a dozen points while Davis also added seven boards and four steals. Weber also finished with four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Utah Valley was led by Toston, who finished with a game-high 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line.
NM State will face off against the winner between No. 2 UTRGV and No. 3 CSU Bakersfield on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the WAC Championship. Saturday’s championship game will also be broadcast on ESPNU with Dave Flemming and Gail Goestennkors on the call.
POSTGAME NOTES: This is the second-straight year NM State has reached the tournament championship game with its semifinal win on Friday…Head coach Mark Trakh is now 5-3 when playing in the WAC Tournament …They Aggies shot 40-perfect from the floor as a team, marking the 16th time this season they have shot 40-percent or better from the floor.
