NACOGDOCHES, Texas – On Tuesday evening, deep in the heart of Texas, NM State (14-15, 9-8 WAC) dropped a hard-fought match to Stephen F. Austin (24-5, 14-3 WAC) in a game that didn't see a whole lot of scoring by either side until the second half.
 
After holding the Lady Jacks to their lowest scoring half (15) of the season, Stephen F. Austin was able to completely flip the script on the Aggies with a second half surge, scoring 47 points on 18-29 shooting (62.1%). The late push by SFA was led by the forward pair of Avery Brittingham and Aiyana Johnson who combined for over half (25) of the Lady Jacks second half points.
 
Molly Kaiser (18) and Tayelin Grays (12) led the scoring front for the Aggies, combining for 30 of the Aggies 47 points throughout the game. Kaiser had another solid performance from the line as well, knocking down 6-8 shots from the charity stripe. Sylena (7) Peterson and Ene Adams (6) led the Aggies on the glass, securing 13 rebounds as a pair.
 
First Half
Neither team produced much offense in the first two quarters of play, further proving the defensive prowess these two teams pose. Coming into the game, these were the number one and number two teams in terms of scoring defense in the entire league. The game did not see its first score until the 6:23 mark of the first period with both teams going a combined 0-9 to start the game. Tayelin Grays finally got the first points of the game to fall with a tough layup in the post after having to navigate through forest of defenders. SFA got themselves on the score board with a made free-throw but couldn't capitalize on the second. With just over five minutes left in the quarter, Moe Shida checked into the ball game and instantly hit a running floater over her defender as the shot clock wound down. Late into the period, Ashlee Strawbridge connected on a jumper coming off an assist from Tayelin Grays giving the Aggies a 7-2 lead in the final minute of the first. A signature Molly Kaiser jump shot at the end of the period gave the Aggies a 9-4 lead. This marks the lowest defensive scoring quarter of the season for the Aggies, holding the Jacks to just one made shot in the frame.
 
The scoring did pick up in the second quarter but was still not to the level you would expect either team to be displaying. SFA opened the second frame with a pair of made free-throws. Molly Kaiser answered with a baseline jumper just outside the paint to put the score at 11-6 Aggies. NM States next basket from the floor didn't come until the 5:36 mark of the second period. Kaiser once again producing another bucket for the Aggies putting her first half total at seven.  With under three minutes, Taylor Donaldson hit a spinning layup in front of the basket to give the Aggies a 16-12 lead. The Texas native, Tayelin Grays closed out the scoring in the first half with a pullup jumper inside the paint to give NM State a 18-14 advantage heading into the locker rooms.
 
Both teams shot under 30% in the half going a combined 12-45 including 0-8 from three. The Aggies held a slight rebound advantage over the Lady Jacks (20-16) and was owning the offensive glass with a +7 margin.
 
Second Half
The Lady Jacks came out of the locker rooms on fire going on a 18-2 scoring run to open the second half of play. After Molly Kaiser scored the first points of the half for the Aggies in the opening two minutes of the period, the Aggies did not record another basket until the 3:28 mark of the third quarter. Grays and Kaiser combined to score two layups in the final three minutes of the frame to keep the Aggies within single digits, but SFA was starting to look like their true selves as they put up 23 points in the third quarter alone after only being able to produce 15 in the first half.
 
The Aggies were looking to find any answers on the offensive end but were struggling to get anything to fall from the floor. Most of the teams points in the final period came from the free throw line (9) after only finding the cup four times in the final quarter. NM State was able to keep SFA within striking distance most of the period, but a 18-9 run by the jacks to close out the final frame put the game out of reach.
 
NOTES

• Molly Kaiser scored her 20^th double-digit output of the season.
• NM State held SFA to its lowest scoring quarter (4) and half (15) of the season.
• The Aggies forced the Lady Jacks to 18 turnovers in the game – the 25^th time this season they've forced 15+ turnovers.
• Both teams match each other in rebounds (37)
• Both teams combined to make just four threes in the game

 
Up Next
The Aggies will have one more regular season matchup up against Sam Houston on Thursday before they head to Las Vegas for the WAC Tournament. The Aggies and Bearkats last met up in Las Cruces in January which saw the crimson and white take a double-digit win in Las Cruces.