Opening Tip
• NM State women's basketball (9-8, 4-1 WAC) are looking to continue their recent success of winning when they take on Utah Tech Saturday in the Pan American Center at 4 p.m. MST.
• The Aggies are winners of six of their last seven games and have gotten out to their best start in conference play (4-1) since the 2018-19 season when the team went 15-1 in conference to finish the year.
• Utah Tech (11-5, 3-2 WAC) is also riding a bit of a hot streak. The Bison have won four of their last six games with back-to-back wins against Sam Houston (79-67) and Abilene Christian (85-74).
• The all-time series between the two programs is ties at one a piece. NM State took the first matchup, 84-82 (2/10/22) in a triple overtime thriller here in Las Cruces. The Bison won the next meeting later that month (2/17/22) by a final score of, 72-69.
 
Last Time Out
• NM State defeated Sam Houston Thursday night (1/12/23) 69-48 in a game the Aggies controlled from the first period on.
• The Aggies dominated points in the paint 50-22, while also outrebounding the Bearkats 35-27
• The team also shot it's second highest percentage in field goals for the year (57.4%) while holding their opponent to a season low in shooting (23.7%).
• Ashlee Strawbridge led the Aggies in scoring on way to a career-high 13 points.
• Shania Harper recorded her fourth double-digit performance in the past five games nearly recorded her second consecutive double-double after securing eight rebounds for the night.
• Sylena Peterson finished with 11 points, her seventh double-digit night on the year.
• Ten different Aggies scored throughout the game
• Moe Shida made her first appearance of 2023 after missing the previous two games due to injury
• The Aggies are now 4-1 on the season in games decided by double digits.
• This is also the first time this season the Aggies have defeated a team by double-digits in back-to-back games after nine of the Aggies first 11 games were decided by single-digits.
 
Defense. Defense. Defense
• NM State is allowing just 58.3 points a game to their opponents this season which is the lowest average amongst WAC schools so far.
• Nationally, the Aggies carry the 58th highest turnover margin in the country and second highest margin in the WAC at +3.71 forcing 19.41 turnovers a contest, which is the 53^rd in the nation and third in the WAC.
• Additionally, NM State ranks 46th in the nation in steals per game (10.1) and fifth in the WAC.
 
Minutes for Everybody
• There is no shortage of minutes on Jody Adams' squad this season – 10 different players are averaging 10+ minutes for the team this season with two others averaging over nine minutes per game.
• Taylor Donaldson leads the team in minutes averaging 29.6 per game this season. The other nine players averaging double digit minutes include Soufia Inoussa (29.2), Molly Kaiser (26.1), Fama Thaim (25.3), Sylena Peterson (22.1), Ashlee Strawbridge (21.5), Taylein Grays (19.8), Shania Harper (14.8), Sabou Gueye (11.8) and Ene Adams (10.9).
• Mo Shida (9.1) and Lucia Yenes (9.1) are both just shy of averaging 10+ minutes a game.
 
Scouting the Bison
• Utah Tech (11-5, 3-2 WAC) currently sits in fifth place of the WAC standings.
• The team opened conference play with a loss to Southern Utah (76-61) back in December but came right back on New Years Eve to beat Utah Valley (68-58). Since then, the Bison have gone 2-1 in WAC Play with wins against Sam Houston (79-67) and Abilene Christian (79-64).             
• The Bison are led by the guard pair of Macey Warren and Breaunna Gillen who are both averaging around 19 points a game.
• Utah Tech consistently elects to go with a starting five of Warren, Gillen, McCord, Kartchner and Isaacson who are each averaging double-digits in scoring this season.
• The Bison rank second in the WAC in scoring offence this season putting up 78.63 points a game versus opponents. They also have the second highest field goal percentage in the WAC shooting at a 45.7% clip.
 
Up Next
• The Aggies are back on the road next week for a pair of game against Grand Canyon (1/19/23) and Seattle U (1/21/23). The Aggies will return to Las Cruces the following week for one game against Abilene Christian before traveling to California Baptist (2/2/23).