Aiming to pull back-to-back wins inside the Pan American Center, the New Mexico State women’s basketball team dug deep to clinch a nail-biting 66-64 overtime victory against the Louisianna Tech Lady Bulldogs to cement a third Conference USA victory.
Coming out of the gate tenaciously, the Aggies ran down the polished court with some fire in their hands, scoring ten points within the first few minutes of the quarter. A powerful Aggie offense allowed 5’8” junior guard Jaila Harding to score several three-pointers. After a 12-0 Aggie run, the Bulldogs desperately needed to stop the bleeding and with a fastbreak in the paint from Jianna Morris, the Bulldogs finally got on the scoreboard.
The Bulldogs struggled at first to keep up with the Aggies in the first quarter before several fast break plays propelled the Bulldogs to close the point gap. Harding returned the favor and scored most of the Aggies’ three-point plays for a total of 16 points complimented by two rebounds by the end of the matchup.
The Aggies rode a 6-2 run into the second quarter before the Bulldogs pulled out a 6-0 run of their own. Despite the effort, the Aggies led 31-20 heading into halftime.
The Bulldogs struggled to get the ball into the net from the three-point arc for most of the game. The ball constantly rang outside of the hoop before falling back into the hands of the Aggies.
Now, after a solid and comfortable Aggie lead in the first half, the Bulldogs came back to the court after halftime and hoped to finish the battle to stop the Aggies from getting another Conference win.
Beginning the third, Bulldog senior forward Anna Larr Roberson nailed a three-pointer from the arc with nothing but net. After several more three-pointers from Morris, the Bulldogs battled to tighten the score to 44-36 to end the third.
Continued energy from the Bulldogs in the final quarter resulted in several more three-pointers, all while they retained their strong rebound game. Although, cross court passing kept them from overtaking the Aggies by a large margin.
Moving forward with less than a minute on the clock, it was go time for both teams. In the final seconds, the Bulldogs tied the game. With the Aggies unable to net a three-pointer shot from the arc, the matchup was officially sent into overtime.
The Bulldogs had possession of the ball first in the overtime period, but an out of bounds call made it an ‘Aggie Ball’! The Aggies were first up to score in the five-minute overtime block.
The back-and-forth passing and turnovers settled in a 66-64 victory for New Mexico State.
After the game, Aggie head coach Jody Adams said there is always room for improvement, especially in close finishing games.
“Those close games that we lost, that’s what you hope to fix going into February,” Adams said. “Nobody’s worn out and we have got a good rotation. We’re deep if everybody is focused on what we have to do in their 20 square feet.”
Despite guard Anja Bukvic’s 18 points and three rebounds, the Bulldogs drop to a conference record of 2-4 and 8-18 overall putting them at seventh in Conference USA.
Harding led the effort for the Aggies posting 16 points with senior forward Ene Adams right behind her with 15.
The Aggies now sit at fourth in CUSA with an even 3-3 record and 9-10 overall. The Aggies will now hit the road to the Liberty Arena in Lynchburg, Virginia to face off against the Liberty Flames on Thursday, Feb. 1, at 5 p.m. All coverage will be streamed on ESPN+ and Zia Country 99.5 FM.
