Game Twenty-Seven
NM State (10-16, 6-10 WAC) at Stephen F. Austin (25-3, 16-0 WAC)
Thursday, March 3 | 5:30 p.m. MT | William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,203) | Nacogdoches, Texas
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets | NM State Game Notes | Program

Opening Tip
• After a stretch of seven games in which the Aggies were at home six times, the Aggies return to the road to open a two-game swing to close out the regular season.
• This will be the second time that NM State will see Stephen F. Austin in less than one month as they last clashed with the Ladyjacks on Valentine's Day.
• Feb. 14 was also the first time that the two programs had ever met as this season marks the first year that SFA has been in the WAC. In the innaugural matchup, the 'Jacks got the best of the Aggies, winning 69-55.
• The 'Jacks have made their presence known quickly as they currently sit atop the WAC standings with a record of 16-0 in league play while winning nearly every contest by a wide margin. In fact, the Aggies' 14-point loss was the second most narrow margin of victory for SFA this season.
• On the other hand, narrow results have been quite the theme for the Aggies this season as 10 contests in the 2021-22 season have been decided by four or less points. This marks the most for any Aggie team since the 2011-12 team that also had 10 decisions within four points.
• Prior to tip-off on Thursday, the Aggies find themselves slotted in 10th place in the WAC standings but would be the nine seed in the WAC Tournament due to Tarleton being ineligible to participate in Las Vegas.
• This will be the 74th WAC contest in which Brooke Atkinson will be at the helm as the Aggies have compiled a league record of 46-28 during her tenure, including two regular-season WAC titles.
 
The Nitty Gritty
• Head Coach Brooke Atkinson leads one of the WAC's top rebounding teams as the Aggies rank first in the conference in rebounding margin, out-rebounding opponents by 5.5 boards per game. That mark is also good for 55th in the nation.
• The Aggies also rank second in rebounding margin in league contests as, on average, they collect 6.2 more rebounds than their opponents in WAC games. In WAC play, the Aggies are tops in offensive rebounds per game (15.1) and second in total rebounds per game (39.3).
• Rebounding is likely an area where the Aggies will have to dominate on Thursday evening in order to take down SFA as this is one of the only areas the 'Jacks struggle in - ranking eighth in the conference in rebounding margin (-1.1 per game)
• The Aggies also rank in the top five among WAC teams in free throw percentage (3rd, .691), free throws made per game (4th, 24.7) and turnovers forced per game (4th, 17.19).
• NM State is led in scoring by graduate transfer Bigue Sarr who ranks 15th in the WAC in points per game (12.7) and second in rebounds per game (8.6). Sarr also posts a field goal percentage of 51.9 percent to rank seventh in the league. Sarr's ability to create second-chance opportunities for the Aggies is also among the league's best as she ranks second in the WAC in offensive rebounds per game, pulling down 3.3 per contest.
• The Aggies bench production has also been a strength all season and that charge is led by a pair of sophomores in Molly Kaiser and Taylor Donaldson. The duo ranks second and third on the Aggies in points per game and are two of only four players in the WAC to rank inside the top 41 in scoring and post less than 20 minutes of action per game.
 
WAC Tournament Talk
• With their victory over Chicago State on Saturday, the Aggies guaranteed themselves a spot in the upcoming WAC Tournament.
• Now that the Aggies are in, determining their seed gets a little more complicated as they can finish as high as the seventh seed or as low as the 10th seed depending on the outcomes across the league over the next four days.
• One thing to note is that the Aggies would own the tiebreaker over UTRGV and Lamar should they find themselves with matching WAC records with either program.
• If the season had ended today, the Aggies would be in the ninth spot and facing off with UTRGV in the first round of the WAC tournament. This contest would take place on March 8, at noon PT at Michelob ULTRA Arena in the Mandalay Bay hotel.
 
Scouting the Ladyjacks
• Stephen F. Austin will be putting its nation-leading 17-game win streak on the line Thursday evening when they host the Aggies as they currently sit at 25-3 on the season with a 16-0 record in WAC play. The only other team in the nation with a win streak equal to the 'Jacks' is No. 2 Stanford.
• The Ladyjacks are also riding a 38-game home win streak as the last time they dropped a contest at The Sawmill was on Nov. 16, 2019, when they fell, 57-63, to UCF.
• SFA is led by a trio of scorers who all average double-digit figures in Aiyana Johnson, Stephanie Visscher and Zya Nugent. Leading the pack is Aiyana Johnson who posts 14.6 points per game for Mark Kellog's team. Meanwhile, Visscher manages 14.1 points per game.
• Despite the Aggies being able to limit Johnson and Visscher to just 11 combined points in their first meeting, the Ladyjacks third-leading scorer is who carried SFA to victory as Zya Nugent posted a career-high 31 points - well above her season average of 11.5 points per game.
• Visscher is also SFA's leading rebounder, pulling down 6.7 boards per tilt.
• Head Coach Mark Kellog is in his seventh year with the Lopes and has generated a record of 146-43 to this point in her career at the helm in Nacogdoches, Texas.
 
Last Time Out | NM State 80, Chicago State 71 | Thursday, Feb. 26, 2022
• All eight seniors logged minutes on Senior Day as the Aggies used a monster third quarter to coast to an 80-71 win over Chicago State on Saturday afternoon in the Pan American Center.
• The sixth win in conference play also secured a spot for NM State in the upcoming WAC Tournament by way of putting themselves out of reach from the last-place Cougars.
• In their final appearance on Lou Henson Court, Deja Terrell, Tayelin Grays and Adrianna Henderson carried the home side to success as Terrell posted a team-high 13 points while Grays and Henderson recorded 12 apiece.
• Terrell's game wasn't strictly limited to scoring though as she collected seven boards and an assist in 22 minutes off the bench.
• Fama Thiam's three-point barrage in the first half also helped her reach double-digits as she went 3-of-3 from deep on her way to scoring 11 points.
• As a team, the Crimson and White shot 43 percent from the field to denote their best shooting performance since Jan. 20, when they shot 53 percent in a win over Sam Houston.
• The Aggies also forced 19 turnovers that eventually turned into 19 points. The Aggie bench left its imprint on yet another game – turning in 38 points on the day.
• As was the case in the first meeting, Chicago State was led in scoring by freshman Aaliyah Collins who put up 20 points, however, the Aggie ball pressure did force Collins into five turnovers.
• Janiah Newell and Christina Britter also reached double-digit scoring figures as they both scored 12 points.
 
Up Next
• Following their meeting with SFA, the Aggies will board a plane and make the trip to Orem, Utah, where they will take on Utah Valley in the final regular season game of the year.
• The game against Utah Valley is set to get underway at noon MT.
 
Preseason Picks
NM State was picked to finish in seventh place in the WAC Coaches' Poll while the media selected the Aggies to land in sixth this season.
 
The WAC media also selected junior guard Soufia Inoussa to the Second Team All-WAC list.