LAS CRUCES, N.M. – After an opening week matchup on the road to begin the season, NM State returned to the Pan American Center for a contest with New Mexico Highlands. The Aggies held control throughout the game, never relinquishing the lead while holding NMHU to 32% shooting from the field, and 17% from long range en route to a 78-61 win.
Like the season-opening meeting with No. 18 USC, Lucía Yenes led the Aggies with 23 points, while
Imani Warren notched her first career double-double, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds, along with six assists.
Warren opened the scoring on Tuesday night, speeding to the basket and laying it in before
Anna Csenyi knocked down her first 3-pointer of the season to put the home side ahead 5-0 early.
Las Cruces native and New Mexico Highlands transfer
Emma Christiano made her presence felt immediately after entering the contest, picking up a steal and zipping the ball ahead to Csenyi for a fastbreak layup – part of a 13-4 run to end the quarter with NM State ahead 18-8.
The Aggies' hot stretch continued into the second frame, with
Iyana Beh tallying four quick points, swiftly notching a new career-best for the junior transfer (Snow College). Turning defense to offense, a Lucía Yenes block set up a fastbreak layup for
Imani Warren, giving NM State their largest lead of the quarter (28-10).
The visiting Cowgirls showed fight to end the first half, shrinking the lead to 10 after an Aspen Salazar shot at the buzzer found the bottom of the net. At the break, NM State held a 38-28 lead.
In the opening half, the Crimson & White shot 59% from the field (17-for-29), while holding dominant edges in paint points (30-14) and fastbreak scoring (15-2).
Tallying a new career high in points in the first 20 minutes (12 points),
Imani Warren added to her highlight night with a standout third quarter, stuffing the stat sheet with three points, five rebounds and four assists in the stanza.
Post play powered NM State to begin the third quarter, with Yenes and Beh combining for eight points as the Aggie lead roared to a score of 50-31.
A 6-0 run kick-started by an
Anna Csenyi layup sent the game to the final frame with the Aggies' largest lead of the third (58-38). Csenyi would ultimately finish the game with a new career high of 10 points.
Senior guard and captain
Loes Rozing showed her court prowess in the fourth, erupting for a season-high seven points in the frame, including a 4-0 individual scoring run to help NM State post its largest lead of the contest, 71-47. True freshman point guard
Keira Hudson earned her first points as an Aggie at the charity stripe, going six-for-six from the line.
The Cowgirls notched a late surge, but it was too little too late. A Rozing triple from the right side sealed the deal and secured a 78-61 victory for the home side.
With the win, Head Coach
Jody Adams tallied her 50
th win as leader of the Aggies and improved her record in NM State home openers to 3-1 with her lone loss coming to Big 12 foe Arizona, 68-57.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Jody Adams, on the home-opener win: "I liked the way
Lucia Lara used her length for us tonight, and
Emma Christiano did a great job calming the team down and putting us in position to get good looks. I think we learned a lot about pace of play tonight, and how we can effectively use our practices to get better as the season rolls along."
NUMBERS OF NOTE
- Lucia Yenes notched back-to-back 20-plus point performances, finishing with 23 points, five rebounds (ties season-high) and three assists (career-high) in 26 minutes.
- Junior guard Imani Warren recorded a near triple-double, finishing with 15 points (career best), 11 rebounds (career best) and six assists (career high).
- Anna Csneyi tallied a new career-high in points, marking the third Aggie to score double-digits on the night – finishing with 10 points in a team-high 30 minutes.
- Loes Rozing nearly posted a double-double, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds on Tuesday night.
- The Aggies distributed the ball well as a team, finishing with 20 assists on the night, to mark the most since a 25-assist night against Northern New Mexico on Dec. 20, 2022.
NM State returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 16, playing host to I-25 rival New Mexico in their lone matchup of the season. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. from the Pan American Center with the game streaming on ESPN+. Additionally, live stats will be available at nmstatesports.com/stats.
For complete coverage of NM State Women's Basketball, visit
NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics - and follow us on Twitter
(@NMStateWBB), Instagram
(@NMStateWBB), and like us on Facebook (
NM State Women's Basketball).
##NM State##
