Fresh off marathon win, Aggie women host Utah Valley in key WAC game

Opening Tip
• The Aggies will chase win number 10 on the year when they host Utah Valley, last year's WAC representative at the NCAA Tournament.
• The Wolverines have compiled an identical record in conference play as the Aggies this season which means NM State and Utah Valley will enter Saturday's game in a tie for seventh in the conference. Sam Houston also hoists a record of 5-6 in league games to create a three-way tie for seventh through 11 games.
• Utah Valley is coming off a season in which it earned the WAC's automatic qualification into last year's NCAA Tournament by way of finishing second in the conference's regular-season standings, however, the Wolverines fell to Grand Canyon in the WAC semifinals.
• On Saturday, the Aggies will look to continue to protect their home floor as they are undefeated in league play inside the Pan Am (5-0) and currently sit at 8-2 on the season at home.
• The matchup with Utah Valley will be the first of two meetings this season as the two sides will reconvene in the final game of the regular season when the Aggies make the trip to Orem, Utah, for what could turn out to be an extremely important game for WAC Tournament seeding purposes.
• This will be the 70th WAC contest in which Brook Atkinson will be at the helm as the Aggies have compiled a league record of 45-24 during her tenure, including two regular-season WAC titles.
 
The Nitty Gritty
• Head Coach Brooke Atkinson leads one of the WAC's top rebounding teams as the Aggies rank first in the conference in rebounding margin, out-rebounding opponents by 5.9 boards per game. This mark is also good for the 46th-best in the nation.
• The Aggies also rank first in rebounding margin in league contests as, on average, they collect 7.7 more rebounds than their opponents in WAC games.
• Rebounding is also a strength of Utah Valley's as it ranks second in the WAC in rebounding margin by way of collecting 4.5 more rebounds than their opponents this season while maintaining a plus-5.9 margin in WAC games.
• The Aggies hang their hats on shooting efficiency as they rank inside the top five in the conference in field goal percentage by way of shooting at a 41.2 percent clip this season.
• The Aggies also rank in the top five among WAC teams in free throw percentage (4th, .693), scoring margin (5th, 3.2), scoring offense (3rd, 68.0), turnover margin (4th, +0.67) and turnovers forced per game (5th, 17.43)
• NM State is led in scoring by graduate transfer Bigue Sarr who ranks ninth in the WAC in points per game (13.7) and third in rebounds per game (8.5). Sarr also posts a field goal percentage of 54.4 percent to rank third in the league and 28th in the nation in that category. Sarr's ability to create second-chance opportunities for the Aggies is also among the league's best as she ranks third in the WAC in offensive rebounds per game, pulling down 3.1 per contest.
• Sarr's production versus the Wolverines will be key as she will stand across one of the WAC's top low post players in Josie Williams. Williams posts an astounding 12.1 rebounds per game to lead the conference and rank fourth in the nation.
• The Aggies' Taylor Donaldson stacks up well in the category of shooting percentage as she is currently connecting on shots at a 46.4 percent rate to rank 13th in the conference.
• Mel Isbell has also quickly become one of the WAC's top shooters since league play began as the UNLV transfer is shooting at a .410 clip from deep range to rank ninth among snipers in WAC play.
 
Scouting the Wolverines | Roster | Schedule | Statistics
• Utah Valley is coming off one of its biggest wins of the season as they ended a two-game losing skid with a 58-50 win over Grand Canyon in hostile territory.
• Against the Lopes, junior Madison Grange led the way in the scoring column for the Wolverines as she posted 20 points while also adding three steals.
• Josie Williams also reached double digits in Phoenix as Williams finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds to post her 16th double-double of the season. That number is also good for most double-doubles in the WAC this season and fifth-most in the nation. She has also posted a double-double in her last four outings while reaching the feat in eight of her last nine games.
• Point guard Maria Carvalho was also effective against GCU as she finished with 12 points and six rebounds. Carvalho can be considered the Wolverines' engine as she averages more minutes than anyone in the WAC at just under 36 minutes per game. She also ranks fourth in the WAC in assists per game at 3.5 on the year.
 
• In addition to ranking near the top in rebounding categories, the Wolverines also do a good job at limiting opposing field goal percentages as they hold teams to an average of 37.4 from the field to rank fourth in the WAC. This has allowed Dan Nielson's team to hold teams to just 60.7 points per game this season.
• Head Coach Nielson is entering his third year with the Wolverines and has generated a win percentage of .500 as Utah Valley is 35-35 in its first 70 tilts with Nielson leading.
 
Last Time Out | NM State 84, Dixie State 82 (3OT) | Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022
• In an absolute thriller, the Aggies earned a win in just its second triple overtime game in program history as they extended their home winning streak to six games
• In a game that featured 17 lead changes and 10 ties, the Aggies' top point scorer on the night was sophomore stud Taylor Donaldson as she finished the game with 19 points for her second-highest scoring total of the season.
• Donaldson also snagged seven rebounds and was one of three Aggies to eclipse 40 minutes of playing time in the extended battle.
• Bigue Sarr was the Aggies' best at collecting rebounds as she totaled 16 boards to go along with 11 points to post her third-straight double-double.
• Soufia Inoussa recorded the most time on the floor tonight for the Aggies as she played over 45 minutes and finished with 14 points and a season-high 10 rebounds to manage the second double-double of her career.
• As a team, the Aggies hoisted up 90 shot attempts to mark the largest number of field-goal attempts for NM State this season.
• Of those, 31 of them came from the three-point line where the Aggies scored 27 total points off nine three-pointers.
• The most glaring stat in the NM State victory was the discrepancy in points off the bench where the Aggies outscored the Trailblazers 38-6.
• The Aggies also dominated the glass once again as they pulled down 49 rebounds compared to Dixie State's 39.
• Dixie State was led in scoring by Shanaijah Davison who finished the game with 22 points and seven rebounds while recording 50 minutes and 22 seconds of playing time.
• Macie Warren and Breaunna Gillen were also responsible for a large chunk of the Trailblazers' points as they combined for 39 points with Warren posting 18 and Gillen posting 21.
• No Dixie State participant reached double digits in the category of rebounds as they were led by Warren and Gillen who each pulled down eight rebounds.
 
Up Next
• Once again, the Aggies will have just one day of rest in between games as they welcome Stephen F. Austin on Valentine's Day. This will be a make-up game as the two programs were originally scheduled to meet in Las Cruces on Jan. 22.
• Tip-off for the contest versus the Ladyjacks is set for 2 p.m. and will be broadcasted on ESPN+ in addition to being available for international viewers on wacdigitalnetwork.com
 
Sights on Six
NM State will seek its sixth WAC regular-season title since the 2014-15 season. Including this season, the Aggies are 85-23 in conference play across the past seven seasons.
 
Preseason Picks
NM State was picked to finish in seventh place in the WAC Coaches' Poll while the media selected the Aggies to land in sixth this season.
 
The WAC media also selected junior guard Soufia Inoussa to the Second Team All-WAC list.