SAN JOSE, Calif. – The NM State women's basketball team fended off a resilient San José State team late in the fourth quarter behind three players with double-figures for the 75-66 road victory Thursday night at The Event Center.
 
Sasha Weber led all scorers with 20 points on 7of-13 shooting, six of which came from three-point land. Brianna Freeman recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 12 points and 10 boards to go with four assists and a pair of steals while Moriah Mack chipped in with 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
 
"Sasha [Weber] was big time for us," head coach Mark Trakh said. "She was the best player on the floor tonight. I'm really happy with her. I was happy with our defense. We had some breakdowns with [Dezz] Ramos, but I was happy with the kids. We came out on their floor against a team that averaged 80 points and held them to 66."
 
The Aggies (8-2) had a much better start to the game than their previous two contests, jumping out to a 12-4 lead behind a very active full-court press. Dezz Ramos, San José State's leading scorer heading into Thursday's contest, brought the Spartans (1-8) within 25-19 of NM State before knocking down a jumper to tie things up at 25 four minutes into the second quarter.
 
However, NM State responded after the timeout from head coach Mark Trakh to finish out the quarter on a 10-2 run behind Freeman, who scored five of her 12 points in the final six minutes of the first half to take a 35-27 lead into halftime.
 
After a quick basket by Ramos to open the second half, Sasha Weber drained back-to-back triples to push the Aggie lead to 41-32.
 
The Spartans chipped away at the Aggie lead and brought it within 52-43 with 1:09 left in the third frame after an 8-0 run by NM State out of the media timeout. However, a breakaway layup from Tyesha Taylor followed by a buzzer-beater from Shanice Davis gave NM State the 56-43 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
 
With both teams exchanging baskets to start the fourth quarter, Mack netted two-straight buckets for the Aggies on the full-court press to make it a 14-point game. Weber then connected on her sixth 3-pointer of the night to extend the NM State lead, 69-53, with 4:13 left on the clock.
 
From that point on, the Spartans gave the Aggies a scare as they went on an 11-4 run to make it 73-64 with 29 seconds remaining. Luckily for NM State, there wasn't enough time left on the clock as the Aggies hung on for the 75-66 victory.
 
Ramos and Myzhanique Ladd finished with 19 points each for the Spartans while everyone else had nine points or less for SJSU.
 
NM State continues its four-game road swing on Sunday, Dec. 20, at 2 p.m. (MT) when it takes on New Mexico at WisePies Arena for the second installment of the Rio Grande Rivalry this season.
 
POSTGAME NOTES: Weber surpassed Tabytha Wampler in the first half of the game for 13th all-time in scoring at NM State…NM State won the battle of the boards for just the fourth time this year, all of which resulted in a win…Weber's two blocks tonight ties her with Vicki Evans (74, 1985-89) for eighth all-time…Her six 3-pointers was just one shy of tying her single-game high…Freeman's double-double tonight was the13th double-double of career.