NM State women fall to Utah Valley on the road

OREM, Utah – NM State dueled Utah Valley to a much closer result the second time around, however, the Aggies dropped their final regular-season contest, 51-60, to the Wolverines.
 
The Crimson and White were once again led by the bench scoring of Molly Kaiser as the sophomore scored 12 points on seven shots. Kaiser was the only Aggie to reach double figures, but Bigue Sarr was the second-leading scorer with nine points to go along with five boards. Deja Terrell was also effective off the bench – scoring nine points and pulling down five rebounds.
 
Even with the Wolverines' dominant post player Josie Williams scoring 17 points, the Aggies still held the advantage in paint scoring as they posted 26 points in the paint compared to UVU's 22.
 
Williams' 17 was good for a game-high while a trio of other Wolverines also scored at least 10 points as Madison Grange score 14 points, Eleyana Tafisi posted 12 and Abby Conlee scored 10 off the bench. Meanwhile, Williams collected her 22^nd double-double on the season as she yanked down 11 missed shots.
 
FIRST QUARTER
· The Aggies jumped out to a fast start as they scored the afternoon's first five points by way of a triple from Soufia Inoussa to start the night and fastbreak in which Adrianna Henderson found a streaking Tayelin Grays.
· NM State's leading scorer also got into the action early as Bigue Sarr turned a Grays steal into points on the other end to give the Aggies a 7-3 lead with 6:20 left in the first.
· The Wolverine's Madison Grange responded with a layup herself before Molly Kaiser worked her way into the paint and hit a pull-up jumper.
· Later in the quarter, Deja Terrell took an Inoussa pass and hit her third three pointer of the season to put the Aggies ahead by four points.
· Terrell then came up with a steal on the ensuing UVU possession and the Aggies quickly scored via a Sarr layup to claim their largest lead of the first quarter – leading 14-8 with 2:34 left on the clock in the opening period.
· Terrell continued to cause problems for a Utah Valley squad looking for its eighth home win of the season as she scored the final points of the quarter to help NM State carry a six-point advantage after 10 minutes of play.
 
SECOND QUARTER
· Utah Valley had the upper hand early in the second quarter as they went on a quick 4-0 run before Kaiser hit another pull-up jumper, this time from the right side of the floor, to give the Aggies an 18-14 lead with 7:27 left in the quarter.
· The Aggies then had a scoring drought that lasted until Taylor Donaldson collected an offensive rebound and sprung back up for a put-back at the 3:42 mark in the quarter to help the Aggies go ahead 21-19.
· UVU then scored the next five to take its first lead of the game – 24-21 with 2:30 left in the first half.
· Donaldson also scored the final points of the first half as she scored a layup to allow the Aggies to enter the locker room down by just one point at the break.
 
THIRD QUARTER
· After the two sides traded baskets to open the half, Utah Valley rattle off four straight points before Grace Colaivalu knocked down a turnaround jumper off one foot that had onlookers thinking of Dirk Nowitkzi. Colaivalu's shot put the Aggies back to within four points with just under six minutes left in the third quarter.
· Utah Valley began to create separation in the third as it then scored seven of the next nine combined points to take a 10-point lead with 3:35 remaining before the fourth quarter.
· The Aggies' offense would remain silent until Molly Kaiser broke away to score on a fast break while also drawing contact from UVU's Josie Williams. Kaiser would also knock down the additional free throw to reduce the deficit to 11 points entering the final quarter.
 
FOURTH QUARTER
· The final quarter started with a defensive stop for the Aggies and a score on the opposite end as Molly Kaiser drove to the baseline and found a cutting Shania Harper for an easy left-handed layup to cut the lead to single digits.
· Bigue Sarr was responsible for the next four Aggie points as she increased her game total to nine and kept the Aggies within 11 points with 7:01 remaining.
· Later in the quarter, a pair of triples from Soufia Inoussa and Deja Terrell then helped the Aggies go on a 6-2 run and minimize the deficit to seven points.
· With three minutes left to play, the Aggies made one final push as Kaiser, Inoussa and Terrell combined to score five unanswered points and cut the lead down to only five points.
· However, Utah Valley would outscore the Aggies 6-2 in the final two minutes of the contest to earn a nine-point win.
 
UP NEXT
· NM State now enters the time of the year where they will enter each game with its season on the line as they travel to Las Vegas for the 2022 WAC Tournament.
· The Aggies will enter the week as the No. 10 seed and will face off with Lamar in the opening round of the tournament.
· The two programs will meet at 3:30 MT on Tuesday, March 8, inside Michelob ULTRA Arena inside the Mandalay Bay.
· The complete WAC Tournament bracket can be found here.