Trio of seniors lead Aggie women to win in home finale

LAS CRUCES – All eight seniors logged minutes on Senior Day as the Aggies used a monster third quarter to coast to an 80-71 win over Chicago State on Saturday afternoon in the Pan American Center. The sixth win in conference play also secured a spot for NM State in the upcoming WAC Tournament by way of putting themselves out of reach from the last-place Cougars.
 
In their final appearance on Lou Henson Court, Deja Terrell, Tayelin Grays and Adrianna Henderson carried the home side to success as Terrell posted a team-high 13 points while Grays and Henderson recorded 12 apiece. Terrell's game wasn't strictly limited to scoring though as she collected seven boards and an assist in 22 minutes off the bench. Fama Thiam's three-point barrage in the first half also helped her reach double-digits as she went 3-of-3 from deep on her way to scoring 11 points.
 
As a team, the Crimson and White shot 43 percent from the field to denote their best shooting performance since Jan. 20, when they shot 53 percent in a win over Sam Houston. The Aggies also forced 19 turnovers that eventually turned into 19 points. The Aggie bench left its imprint on yet another game – turning in 38 points on the day.
 
As was the case in the first meeting, Chicago State was led in scoring by freshman Aaliyah Collins who put up 20 points, however, the Aggie ball pressure did force Collins into five turnovers. Janiah Newell and Christina Britter also reached double-digit scoring figures as they both scored 12 points.
 
FIRST QUARTER
· Two of the first three names to enter the score sheet were Aggies as Bigue Sarr started the game's scoring with a free throw before Jade Bradley forced her way inside for a layup and Sarr hit a short jumper to give the Aggies an early 5-2 lead.
· The first quarter was quite the back-and-forth affair as a margin of four points was the largest for either team.
· Fama Thiam was the star with the most shine in the first quarter as the Dakar, Senegal, native knocked down back-to-back triples to score the final six Aggie points in the first period and give the Aggies a 17-13 lead with 38 seconds left in the first.
· NM State did pick up a late foul that sent Chicago State's Collins to the charity stripe where she cut the lead to two points after 10 minutes of gameplay.
 
SECOND QUARTER
· Thiam continued her hot shooting to start the second, knocking down another three-pointer from the top of the key to give her nine points off the bench just 56 seconds into the second quarter – giving the Aggies a 20-17 advantage.
· After Thiam's production, the Aggies and Cougars traded blows as each side scored 10 points over the next 6:05 in the quarter with neither team scoring more than two points without a response from the opposition.
· A Taylor Donaldson jumper from the painted area at the 3:40 mark gave the Aggies a five-point lead before Chicago State rattled off five straight to even the score at 30-30 with 1:41 remaining in the half.
· Shania Harper then put a halt to the short run while six combined free throws closed out the quarter and left the scoreboard reading 34-34 at the break.
 
THIRD QUARTER
· Chicago State jumped on the board first following halftime, however, the Aggies' physicality then came to light as NM State scored the next 12 points, 10 of which came from the free-throw line. This would give the Aggies a 10-point cushion with 4:01 left in the third period.
· In fact, after Bigue Sarr's layup at the 8:46 mark, the entirety of the Aggies points would come from the free-throw line until senior Tayelin Grays knocked down an open three-pointer from the left wing with 58 seconds remaining in the third.
· Moe Shida also connected on a jumper in the final minute of the quarter as she put in a pull-up jumper with six seconds on the game clock and even less on the shot clock to give the Aggies a 56-47 lead entering the final quarter.
 
FOURTH QUARTER
· Molly Kaiser started the fourth-quarter scoring on a play that will surely make a highlight reel as she used a crossover to put herself in position for a layup that would put the Aggies ahead by 11 with just 14 seconds gone off the clock in the fourth quarter.
· Chicago State battled back to within six before Deja Terrell and Tayelin Grays combined to score six straight NM State points to balloon the lead back to 12 with 5:43 left in the game.
· Only a couple of minutes later, Terrell and Grays bookended another short Aggie run of five points to put Brooke Atkinson's squad its biggest lead – going ahead 15 points with just over four minutes to play.
· The following two minutes of action did belong to the Cougars as they chopped the lead back down to 10 points before Tayelin Grays scored what would be her final points in the Pan American Center to put the Aggies ahead 12 points with 1:13 to play thus earning her and the rest of the starters a spot on the bench for the remainder of the game.
· The lead would hover around 10 points for the final 73 seconds of play with the Aggies picking up a nine-point win.
 
UP NEXT
· With the Aggies guaranteed a spot in Las Vegas at the WAC Tournament, NM State will have an opportunity to match up against some of the top seeds in that tournament as they travel to the current number one seed Stephen F. Austin before taking on current number four seed Utah Valley.
 · First of those two scheduled meetings will come at 5:30 p.m. (MT) on Thursday, March 3. Fans can tune in to watch on ESPN+.