EL PASO, Texas – New Mexico State women's basketball renewed their rivalry with the UTEP Miners as the Battle of I-10 pit the teams against each other in El Paso, Texas at the Don Haskins Center on Thursday night. The game was not decided until the final minutes as intensity was high over four quarters of play. NM State ended up walking away with the victory, 67-59.
When asked about the back-and-forth contest, head coach
Mark Trakh said, "The opposition came back and made a nice run which made it competitive. They're a good opponent and I'm proud of how our team played and came away with a win, after a hard-fought contest."
After winning the tip New Mexico State started off strong going up 13-4 to open the game. A media timeout allowed UTEP to gather themselves as they closed the gap and the Aggies led 16-12 after the first ten minutes of action. NM State play was led by senior guard
Tamera William who put up 10 points early, hitting five of the team's first seven baskets.
When the second quarter opened, UTEP answered with a few runs of their own to gain their first lead of the game 3:00 in, as they went up 23-20. The Miners held the lead until
Zaire Williams hit the Aggies first three of the game and the momentum began to shift. This helped the Aggies respond late and they went back on top with one minute remaining as
Moriah Mack hit back-to-back baskets. The half closed out with NM State on top 37-34. William headed into the locker room with 12 points and seven rebounds, while
Moriah Mack added 10 points of her own.
The third quarter started with a three-pointer from Williams, her second of the game. Then a big 17-4 run by the Aggies was highlighted by back-to-back threes off of turnovers from
Tonishia Childress and
Gia Pack. This was the team's best shooting quarter as they shot 50 percent from the field (7-14). Heading into the fourth quarter, NM State led 54-51.
As the final quarter began, each team came out firing with back-to-back baskets. Then, the Miners looked to close the lead as NM State only led 59-50 halfway through the fourth, forcing the Aggies to call a timeout. After the timeout, UTEP kept the pressure up and put on a full-court press for the remaining time as the NM State lead continued to shrink. With one minute remaining, they only led by five points. Time was on the Aggies side to end the game, however, as they did not let the opposition score again and the team walked away with a 67-59 victory.
At the end of the game, NM State scoring was led by
Tamera William (16 points) and
Moriah Mack (15 points). William also led the team with 15 rebounds which was a career-high for the senior. This win over UTEP is the first time in 21 years that NM State has beaten their Battle of I-10 and Battle of I-25 (New Mexico) rivals in the same season.
The victory moves the Aggies to 7-3 on the year. The team will remain on the road as they travel to Las Vegas, Nev. to take part in the Play 4 Kay Shootout, Dec. 19-21. Their first game of the tournament pits the team against Quinnipiac on Dec. 19 at 4 p.m. MT.
