Dec. 8—LAS CRUCES — Another intense battle, another Aggie celebration.
Molly Kaiser scored 30 points and host New Mexico State feasted on UNM turnovers to pull out a tense 68-60 victory over the UNM women’s basketball team Sunday at the Pan American Center.
The Aggies (6-3) used a late run in the fourth quarter to finally take charge of a back-and-forth game and complete an immensely satisfying weekend for NMSU. The Aggie women picked up two victories over their northern rivals on Friday and Sunday, sandwiched around NMSU’s men taking an overtime win Saturday night in the Pit.
After the final horn, the Aggies spent a few minutes celebrating with fans. The frustrated Lobos filed to their locker room knowing that turnovers — some forced, others not — played a key role in Sunday’s outcome.
UNM (5-5) outrebounded the Aggies 43-30, outscored them in the paint 40-30 and had 15 second-chance points to NMSU’s 5. But the Lobos coughed up 26 turnovers while forcing just 10, leading to a crucial 18-5 Aggies advantage in points off turnovers.
“Way too many turnovers,” Lobos coach Mike Bradbury said. “Give New Mexico State credit for forcing a lot of them. They were very aggressive and attacked us, especially when we tried to throw the ball to the post. But we also had too many unnecessary turnovers, just impatient passes or bad decisions. Those are things we have to eliminate, and we will.”
Destinee Hooks was the poster girl for the Lobos on Sunday, racking up a monster performance with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Hooks flustered the Aggies with eye-popping drives to the basket and buried her only two 3-point tries.
The downside? Hooks also committed 10 of the Lobos’ turnovers.
Meanwhile, Kaiser was a force for the Aggies, getting past UNM defenders for layups, hitting pull-up jumpers and/or drawing fouls whenever NMSU really needed to score. She finished with five rebounds, four assists and two steals to go with her 30 points — and committed just one turnover.
“That’s the difference between a really good fifth-year senior and a 19-year-old in her first year,” Bradbury said. “Destinee is really, really good and going to be great. She kept us in it today. But when it was winning time, Molly Kaiser put (the Aggies) on her back and handled everything we could throw at her. She was outstanding.”
Sunday’s game also featured an entertaining post battle between UNM’s Hulda Joaquim and NMSU’s Fanta Gassama. Joaquim collected 12 points and 14 rebounds, while Gassama had 14 points and 13 boards.
Unlike Friday’s game, in which UNM often double-teamed Gassama on the catch, the Lobos let Joaquim and reserve Paris Lauro battle the Aggies senior straight up, Sunday. It paid off as NMSU did not torch the Lobos with open perimeter shots and helped keep the game tight throughout.
NMSU led 18-15 after a quarter and 33-32 at halftime after a Hooks reverse layup with 2 seconds remaining. The lead changed hands five times in a hard-fought third quarter. Joaquim scored four late points inside and Viané Cumber hit a pair of free throws to send UNM to the fourth quarter with a 49-46 lead.
The Aggies surged back in front behind Kaiser but led just 58-55 after a Hooks layup with 5:24 remaining. The next few possessions proved decisive.
Kaiser converted an and-one after getting hacked on a jumper to make it 61-55, and the Lobos followed by turning the ball over three straight times. The stretch included a questionable charge call on Joana Magalhães that took her basket off the board, drew boos from the roughly 50 Lobo fans in attendance and brought Bradbury off the bench to argue.
Aggies fans countered with chants of “Sit down, Mike!”
NMSU’s Sylena Peterson then hit a 3-pointer to build the lead to 64-55 and UNM could not fully recover. Cumber came up short on a long 3-pointer with NMSU leading 65-60 with 22 seconds left, and the home team iced things at the foul line.
Cumber finished with 11 points and nine rebounds for the Lobos, who will take final exams this week and return to the Pit to host Pepperdine next Sunday at 2 p.m.
