Aggies Look to Sweep UTEP Miners in Second I-10 Matchup

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- NM State will enter the second half of the CUSA season as they head to El Paso to take on UTEP for the second time. They will look to push their record to 5-5 after the squad’s last hosted win against WKU last Saturday in the Pan American Center.

HOW TO FOLLOW 

Who: NM State (11-11, 4-5 CUSA) vs. UTEP (9-11, 2-7 CUSA) 

Where: Don Haskins Center – El Paso, Texas 

When: Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. MST 

Live Stream: ESPN+ 

Live Statistics: StatBroadcast 

All-Time Series Record: NM State leads 56-43 

Last Meeting: NM State won 65-49 (January 11, 2025) 

  

LAST TIME AGAINST UTEP

The Aggies took the victory 65-49 in the Pan American Center, led by Kaiser’s 32 point performance and 80% shooting at the stripe (8-for-10). Fanta Gassama grabbed 12 boards to tally up with the Aggies’ 28 rebounds and picked up four steals in the process to protect the Aggies’ basket on the defensive end. The Aggies led in this game’s overall steals (10-4), assists (12-7), field goals made (18-22), and free throws collected(13-11) over UTEP. With her highest season performance, Diarrah Sissoko put up 11 points over the Miners with a 4-of-8 field goal finish.

THE PRODIGY 

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 nearly 1,700 points across her career and has moved into fifth all-time in scoring for the Aggies in program history. With 1,694 points, she’s also currently the active leader in career points among CUSA players. She now sits just 72 points shy of moving into fourth on the Aggies all-time scoring list.

Last week Kaiser combined for 36 points on the week, including a 19-point effort in a come-from-behind win over Western Kentucky on Saturday.

Two weeks ago, Kaiser was named Conference USA Player of the Week for the fourth time this season after dropping 31 points against Liberty. This marked the fourth CUSA weekly award for Kaiser, which equals the most by an Aggie in program history. This season, Kaiser has also hauled in two NCAA Starting Five accolades, which recognizes the nation’s top five performers each week.

Kaiser ranks ninth in the nation in points per game (21.5) and tenth in total points (472). Including her 28-point outing against FIU last week, Kaiser is also responsible for the four highest scoring performances in league play this season.

 

FANTA-STIC

The last time out, Fanta Gassama recorded nine points and nine rebounds to finish one point and one board shy of tallying her seventh double-double of the season. Her six double-doubles thus far marks the first time that an Aggie has recorded five or more double-doubles in a single season since Bigue Sarr tallied 12 double-doubles in the 2021-22 season. 

She currently ranks 29th in Division I with 9.7 rebounds per game and third in Conference USA. She currently sits at seventh in the nation and second in CUSA in defensive rebounds per game (7.9) as well.

D-UP 

At the moment, NM State ranks third in the conference in steals per game (10.3), which has led their opponents into 448 total turnovers. This has carried over in league play as the Aggies currently rank second in turnovers forced per game (22.0) against CUSA opponents.

FROM DOWNTOWN

Entering Thursday, the Aggies rank second in 3-point percentage in CUSA play, shooting 32.3%. This mark is led by Jaila Harding who is currently shooting an impressive 44.2% from the perimeter, flushing 19 of her 43 3-point attempts against league opponents. Thus far, the Aggies have tallied at least five made threes in each of their eight CUSA games.

HOT IN HUNTSVILLE

NM State shot 5-of-9 from the perimeter against Sam Houston on Jan. 2 which marks the highest 3-point percentage (.556) by any CUSA team in conference play this season. Molly Kaiser led the charge by going a perfect 2-for-2 on her way to scoring a game-high 28 points.

FRESH FISH 

Madi Gewirtz picked up her second Conference USA Freshman of the Week award this past week. Previously, Madi Gewirtz became the first and only player in Aggie program history to earn the honor. Last week, she scored 17 points over Western Kentucky and picked up four defensive boards along with two assists to serve as a catalyst in the Aggies’ win over the Hilltoppers.

THE ADAMS FAMILY

Aggie Head Coach Jody Adams and UTEP leader Keitha Adams will once again cross paths as the two have been tied together since their days at Wichita State. NM State’s Adams helped complete a total transformation of the program and guided the Shockers to 170 total wins during her time at WSU. This included four-straight 20-plus win seasons and six consecutive postseason appearances.

After Jody Adams departed Wichita State in 2017, the Shockers named Keitha Adams their next head coach who spent the following 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. 

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 from overseas. 464 of the Aggies’ 1,435 points this season have come courtesy of international members, accounting for over 32.3% of the team’s production thus far. 

GUESS WHO’S BACK… BACK AGAIN 

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. 

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. 

LETS GO TO OT

For the first time this season, NM State took their opponent to overtime as they went toe-to-toe with preseason favorite Middle Tennessee last Thursday at the Pan American Center. This marked the first overtime game that the Aggies played in since Feb. 24, 2024.

In the closing minutes, Molly Kaiser scored the Aggies’ last 13 points during the Aggies’ 15-point quarter. To close the game, she drove in for a layup finish to tie the game with five seconds left on the clock against MTSU. 

SQUEEKY CLEAN BOARDS

Sianny Sanchez-Oliver matched her career high in rebounds in a single game with eight against Middle Tennessee. This is the most rebounds the 5-foot, 5-inch guard has had in an Aggie uniform since she tallied eight rebounds during her freshman campaign with Deleware State. 

LAST TIME OUT...

Madi Gewirtz and Molly Kaiser combined for 34 points to help push the Aggies past WKU. Lucia Yenes shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor against the Hilltoppers. This is the first time this season that any Aggie with at least five attempts finished perfect from the floor in a single game. Meanwhile, both Gassama (5-for-5) and Harding (4-for-4) shot perfect at the charity stripe.

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. 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 Miners in scoring is Ivane Tensaie, who currently averages 13.7 points per game with a 40.4 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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