STOCKTON, Calif. – The Aggies continue their season by entering post-season play in the first round of 2025 Women's National Invitational Tournament. The team looks to take on West Coast Conference opponent Pacific to advance to the second round and face North Dakota State.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Who: NM State (17-15, 10-8 CUSA) at Pacific (15-18, 9-11 CUSA)
Where: Alex G. Spanos Center – Stockton, Calif.
When: Thursday, March 20, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. MDT
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Statistics: StatBroadcast
All-Time Series Record: Pacific leads 12-8
Last Time: NMSU lost 67-62 (Dec. 19, 2024)
THE PRODIGY
Molly Kaiser has spent all five seasons with the Crimson & White, making her the longest-tenured Aggie on the 2024-25 roster. The Watauga, Texas, native has 1,879 points across her career and has moved into third all-time in scoring for the Aggies in program history. Scoring over 1,800 points, she's also currently the active leader in career points among CUSA players. She now sits just 52 points shy of moving into second on the Aggies all-time scoring list.
This month, Kaiser was named Conference USA Player of the Week for the fifth time this season after dropping 35 points against LA Tech. This marked the fifth CUSA weekly award for Kaiser, which is most by an Aggie in program history. This season, Kaiser has also hauled in two NCAA Starting Five accolades, which recognizes the nation's top five performers each week. She has also recently been selected as the 2025 CUSA Player of the Year along with being selected for a spot on the CUSA's All-Conference team.
Kaiser sits at 17th in the nation in points per game (20.5) and 13th in total points (657).
FANTA-STIC
Fanta Gassama's eight double-doubles thus far marks the first time that an Aggie has recorded five or more double-doubles in a single season since Bigue Sarr tallied 12 double-doubles in the 2021-22 season.
Fanta tallied her second highest game in rebounds this season, snagging down 14 against the Gamecocks on February 20th. She currently sits at 21st in the nation and second in CUSA in defensive rebounds per game (7.3).
D-UP
At the moment, NM State ranks third in the conference in steals per game (9.67), which has led their opponents into 584 total turnovers. This has carried over in league play as the Aggies currently rank second in turnovers forced per game (19.2) against CUSA opponents.
FROM DOWNTOWN
Entering Saturday, the Aggies rank third in 3-point percentage in CUSA play, shooting 30.8%. This mark is led by Jaila Harding who is currently shooting an impressive 38.0% from the perimeter against league opponents. Harding has also moved into third on CUSA league leaders in 3-point percentage.
FRESH FISH
Madi Gewirtz picked up her second Conference USA Freshman of the Week last month. Previously, Madi Gewirtz became the first and only player in Aggie program history to earn the honor. February 1st, she scored 17 points over Western Kentucky and picked up four defensive boards along with two assists to serve as a catalyst in the Aggies' win over the Hilltoppers.
VETERAN LEADERSHIP
The Aggies are led by 11 upperclassmen, including nine seniors. Molly Kaiser and Diarrah Sissoko are each in their fifth season of collegiate basketball, headlining a 15-person roster that has 50 combined seasons of experience, including 32 at NM State. Four Aggies are on at least their third season in the program: Molly Kaiser (five), Sylena Peterson (four), Sianny Sanchez-Oliver (four) and Lucía Yenes (three).
INTERNATIONAL AGGIES
There are seven Aggies with international backgrounds on the 2024-25 roster. Four of those seven hail from Spain (Fanta Gassama, Noah Garcia, Marta Guilera, Lucía Yenes). Hungary (Anna Csenyi), Netherlands (Loes Rozing) and Mali (Diarrah Sissoko) are also represented on this year's squad. Four of six Aggie newcomers are from overseas. 649 of the Aggies' 2,078 points this season have come courtesy of international members, accounting for over 32.3% of the team's production thus far.
GUESS WHO'S BACK… BACK AGAIN
Nearly every rotational guard and wing has returned in action in 2024-25, with 75.66% of the 2023-24 point production still on the roster. Additionally, the returning Aggies accounted for 85.14% of all assists and 97.71% of 3-pointers made (128 of 131) a season ago.
ONE LAST RIDE
This iteration of the Aggies revolves around fifth-year legend Molly Kaiser. The Watauga, Texas, native exercised her extra year of eligibility that she earned from the NCAA's response to COVID-19, electing to spend her fifth and final campaign with the Crimson & White. In 2023-24, Kaiser led the Aggies in games played (31), games started (31), points (463), points per game (14.9), minutes per game (34.2), field goals made (165), free throws made (107) and free-throw percentage (86.3).
Last season, Kaiser drove and buried a patented elbow jumper shot to give her 1,000 career points, with every bucket coming as a member of the Crimson & White. She became the 25th member of the 1,000-point club, and the first since Gia Pack, who played for the Aggies from 2016-2020.
LAST TIME OUT...
Senior Molly Kaiser finished with a team-high 14 points in the loss - bringing her career total to 1,879 points which ranks third all-time in program history. This also marked Kaiser's 29th double-digit scoring effort of the season.
Jaila Harding concluded the game as the Aggies' second-leading scorer with nine points while Fanta Gassam collected 13 rebounds to submit her 13th double-digit rebound effort of the season.
The Aggies picked up one more assist and went 10-11 at the charity stripe to finish at 91% from the line. Though the Aggies were only able to shoot 25% (3-12) from beyond the arc, they held the Lady Techsters to just 21% (4-19) from deep.
SOME WNIT POSTSEASON HISTORY
This is just the Aggies' third time competing in the WNIT tournament.
Their last appearance was in the 2017-18 season where they fell in the first round to Wyoming, 59-67.
The Aggies have yet to win a WNIT match in program history, so this could be a chance for them to snag the team's first victory in this tournament.
UNDER ADAMS' LEADERSHIP
Before finding her way to Las Cruces, Jody Adams had a successful career first at Murray State, then Wichita State.
While coaching the Racers, Adams was able to lead her team to an NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2007-08 season.
After leaving Murray State, she was able to lead the Shockers to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in Wichita, Kansas from 2013-2016.
As a student-athlete, the Tennessee native competed in the NCAA tournament herself under Pat Summit and helped the Lady Vols win the NCAA National Championship in 1991.
SCOUTING PACIFIC
Bradley Davis leads the Tigers as he enters his tenth
season as head coach and his 19th year on the Pacific women's basketball staff.
The Pacific Tigers finished seventh in conference play this season.
The leading scorer for this team is Liz Smith, who averages 14.3 points per game and also leads the team in free throw percentage.
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