NMSU women fall short on road against Weber State

OGDEN, UTAH – The Aggies fell 63-65 on the road at Weber State, dropping yet another heartbreaker. Despite scoring four unanswered points to close the game, NM State was in need of one more shot to fall to earn the victory.
 
Sophomore Taylor Donaldson led the Aggies in scoring for the second-straight game as she tallied 16 points to go along with three rebounds, one assist and one steal. Bigue Sarr returned to her scoring ways as she reached double-figures for the sixth time in the 2021-22 campaign as she notched 12 points and added five rebounds, four of which came on the offensive end.
 
FIRST QUARTER
· After a two-minute stalemate to open the game, Bigue Sarr kicked off scoring for both sides with a second-chance layup.
· At the 6:29 mark, the Aggies retook the lead thanks to a steal and fast break and-one from Tayelin Grays to push the lead to 5-3.
· The Grays' layup would kick start a 9-0 scoring run to give the Aggies an early 11-3 advantage.
· Weber State then went on a 9-3 spurt to pull within two points by the conclusion of the first quarter.
 
SECOND QUARTER
· The first five minutes of the second period featured four lead changes with the Aggie scoring coming from the hands of Deja Terrell and Molly Kaiser.
· The next few minutes of play belonged to the Wildcats as the Aggies received scored just three points compared to their opponent's 10 points.
· However, the Aggies quickly responded with a 7-2 scoring burst of their own that was capped off by a Kayla Watkins three-pointer with eight seconds on the clock to pull the Aggies back within one entering the break.
· Former Wildcat, Watkins connected on a jumper later in the game to finish with five points in her return to the Dee Events Center.
 
THIRD QUARTER
· Before a Taylor Donaldson layup could take the lid off of the hoop for the Aggies in the third quarter, the Wildcats scored six unanswered points to open up a 35-28 lead with 7:38 left in the period.
· Weber State then put together a scoring run of 8-2 over the next four minutes to open a nine-point advantage in the third quarter.
· Similar to the second period, the Aggies battled back and outscored the home team 11-4 in the closing three minutes to head into the final period trailing by four.
· In the Aggie run, Donaldson notched six points to bring her total to 10 points entering the fourth.
 
FOURTH QUARTER
· The Wildcats pushed their lead to eight points at the 6:49 mark, leading 53-45 as it appeared they might pull away.
· The deficit hovered around seven points until the 5:17 mark when Donaldson and Kaiser each connected on a pair of free throws on back-to-back possessions to knock the lead back down four points.
· With 3:25 remaining on the clock, Taylor Donaldson scored off a Jade Bradley pass to score her 15^th and 16^th points of the game and put the score at 59-63 in favor of Weber State
· Following a Bigue Sarr free throw with 1:50 to play, Tayelin Grays knocked down an open triple to help the Aggies pull to within just two points with 31 seconds remaining.
· After Weber State failed to convert on a pair of free throws the Aggies had a look at winning the game, however, a final three-pointer fell short to give the Wildcats the two-point victory.
 
UP NEXT
After the cancelation of the Houston Baptist tilt, NM State will be back inside the Pan American Center for a mid-day matchup with SAGU American Indian College. This will be the final preseason test for the Aggies before they conference play on Dec. 30 against Seattle U.
 
Tip-off for next Tuesday's contest is set for 2 p.m. (MT).