EL PASO, TEXAS – A Borderland road trip to El Paso and the Don Haskins Center saw NM State (7-14, 3-6 CUSA) take on rival UTEP (10-10, 2-7 CUSA) for the 100^th all-time meeting between the programs. For the fourth time in the last six contests, the Aggies dropped the conference road contest, by a final score of 79-69.
 
Lucía Yenes tallied the first points of the night for either team, beginning a stretch of trading baskets that saw NM State take an 8-6 lead in the first. In a two-minute stretch, the Miners recorded a 7-0 run, and closed the first quarter with a 16-14 lead. Imani Warren put in a shot before the buzzer, one of five Aggies to tally a made basket in the frame (Morane Dossou, Senoj Jones, Keira Hudson).
 
A scoring burst by the home side put the Aggies into their largest deficit thus far in the contest (24-14), though Keira Hudson quickly responded with a 3-pointer from the right side of the court – the team's first make from long range on the day. Fellow guards Dee Wilson and Anna Csenyi used aggressive drives to the basket to close the gap to three (26-23), but at the half the Crimson & White trailed 37-27.
 
Playing limited minutes in the first half, Emma Christiano made her presence felt to begin the third quarter, notching her third 3-pointer of the season. Including an Imani Warren triple with 7:56 remaining in the third quarter, the trio of Warren, Yenes and Keira Hudson scored 35 of the team's final 39 points, including 22 in a row between the end of the third and the start of the fourth quarter.
 
The second half saw the Aggies fail to get closer than a four-point deficit, while not holding a lead since the halfway mark of the first stanza. A late surge led by a trio of baskets by Yenes was not enough, as NM State fell 79-69.
 
NUMBERS OF NOTE

• Imani Warren (21 points) and Lucía Yenes (20 points) became the first pair of Aggie teammates to tally 20-plus in the same contest this season, and the first since Molly Kaiser and Fanta Gassama against North Dakota State in last season's WNIT (Mar. 24, 2025).
• Keira Hudson finished with 12 points against UTEP, her sixth game in double-figures and fourth in the past five contests. Each of these double-digit performances have been achieved while coming off the bench.
• NM State finished 14-for-17 from the free-throw line, the team's fifth game with 10-plus made free throws in conference action, and ties the third-most makes in a single game this season.
• For just the third time this season, the Aggies failed to notch a block, moving to 0-3 in such contests.

QUOTABLES

Imani Warren, on the matchup with UTEP: "The biggest step forward for us as a team is to keep outside noise off the court. We can't let distractions affect focus and continue to trust each other. We've grown this year, and we're not done yet."

Head Coach Jody Adams, after Saturday's matchup: "Reflection time from both coaches and players is always needed after wins and losses. We will continue to do that, and I will keep teaching what winners do every single day.

There are no shortcuts to winning, and all of our energy and focus needs to be on those behaviors."

NM State returns to the Pan American Center floor for a two-game stretch next week, beginning with a contest against Sam Houston on Thursday, Feb. 5. Tip-off in Las Cruces is set for 6 p.m. MT, streaming live on ESPN+ with live stats 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).