Box score
HONOLULU -- The New Mexico State women's basketball team won its Western Athletic Conference opener 74-58 over Hawai'i on Thursday, with four Aggies scoring in double digits.
After Hawai'i cut the NMSU lead to three at 49-46 with 9:07 remaining, the Aggie offense rolled over a tired Rainbow Wahine defense down the stretch. NMSU outscored Hawai'i 25-12 after the midpoint of the second half and outrebounded the home team 21-12 in the final 20 minutes. Senior guard Madison Spence stepped up late, scoring 13 of her 14 points after the break to lead the Aggie offense.
"I'm really pleased, this is a huge win in conference play for us,"
said NMSU coach Darin Spence. "Our execution on offense tonight was
really good. I liked our team energy tonight."
Senior guard Danisha Corbett returned to the starting lineup after missing two starts due to a knee injury and helped lead the Aggies with 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. Junior forward Tabytha Wampler tied for game-high honors with 17 points, and senior guard Jasmine Lowe added 16. Junior forward Ariella McGhee had her best outing since the opening weekend of the season with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.
NMSU shot 45.6 percent while holding Hawai'i to just a 38.9 percent. The Aggies edged Hawai'i on the glass 34-30 and forced 17 Rainbow Wahine turnovers that led to 19 points.
With the win, NMSU improved to 7-8 overall and 1-0 in the WAC, while Hawai'i dropped to 6-8 overall and 0-1 in conference.
NMSU scored the first three points of the game after a free throw by Spence and a bucket from Wampler. Later, another Wampler hoop put NM State up 5-2. Hawai'i then went on an 8-0 run to make it 10-5 at 16:26 of the first half.
The Aggies countered with a 15-2 run over the next 4:17 of the half to lead 20-12. NMSU extended its lead to 10, the largest of the half, minutes later after a basket by Lowe to make it 24-14 at the 9:11 mark. The teams played even over the next six-plus minutes as the Aggies kept the lead at 10 with just under four minutes to go in the half.
The Rainbow Wahine rallied in the final minute of the half to score five straight and cut the advantage to 36-33 at halftime.
NMSU scored the first five points after halftime to force an early Hawai'i timeout just 2:30 into the half. Hawai'i cut the lead to three twice over the next eight minutes, but the Aggie defense held and would not let the home team get any closer.
After Hawai'i closed to within three at the 9:07 mark, Spence and Lowe combined to score 15 of the game's next 23 points to build a 66-52 lead with 3:25 remaining.
Hawai'i guard Keisha Kanekoa tied Wampler for game-high honors with 17 points. Hawai'i's Kamilah Jackson added 12 and grabbed a game-high nine boards.
