Three reasons behind NMSU women's basketball win over Sam Houston
· Yahoo Sports
New Mexico State's women's basketball team is back in the win column.
The Aggies (8-14, 4-6 Conference USA) pulled off a 65-57 upset win over Sam Houston (13-7, 6-3), who stood second in the conference standings heading into the game, on Thursday, Feb. 5, at home. The loss snaps NM State's three-game losing streak and gives it its second home conference win this season.
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The Aggies led 14-11 after the first quarter, and an 18-9 second quarter allowed them to take a commanding 32-20 lead heading into halftime. The lead would reach as high as 18 points when NM State got 43-25 in front over the Bearkats as part of a 20-point third quarter.
Sam Houston wouldn't go away quietly, though. It scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter and shot 47.4% from the field in the final 10 minutes. The Bearkats outscored the Aggies 21-13 in the fourth quarter. But NM State held on, scoring 8 of the final 11 combined points.
The victory keeps NM State above the bottom two of CUSA's standings (the 11th and 12th-placed teams in the conference will miss the CUSA Tournament, as the 10-team format will remain) ahead of its next game against Louisiana Tech at noon on Saturday, Feb. 7, at home. The Aggies were ninth heading into Thursday, just one game above the 11th-placed UTEP team they fell to in their last game.
Here's how NM State was able to secure its win:
Strong offense
The Aggies had one of their best offensive outings of the season on Thursday.
NM State shot 48.1% from the field, tying its fifth-highest mark of the season set against Missouri State on Jan. 17. The Aggies weren't efficient from 3-point range, going just 2-for-9 from there, but made their 2-pointers count by making 23 of their 43 attempts from inside the arc.
Forward Lucía Yenes led NM State's offense. She tallied a team-high 17 points against the Bearkats, her 16th double-digit scoring performance of the season, before fouling out with 2:56 left to play. Yenes only missed five of her 13 shot attempts and also grabbed seven rebounds.
It was a performance the Aggies have been looking for. Heading into Thursday, NM State ranked second-to-last among CUSA teams with just 58.8 points per game. Western Kentucky is the only other team in the conference averaging less than 60 points per game.
Stout defense
The Aggies were just as impressive on defense.
Sam Houston shot just 31.3% against NM State. The Bearkats also shot below 30% from beyond the arc, going 3-for-12 for a 23.1% mark.
Sam Houston's leading scorer, Fanta Kone, was held to just seven points on 2-for-5 shooting. She was averaging 12.6 points heading into Thursday, which ranked 14th in CUSA.
A strong defensive game is also something the Aggies have needed, as they rank second-to-last in their conference with 67.2 points allowed per game. Only UTEP is allowing more points per game than them in CUSA.
Points off turnovers
NM State finished with more turnovers than its opponent, committing 21 while the Bearkats had 18. The Aggies were better able to take advantage, though.
NM State scored 23 points off turnovers compared to 17 for the Bearkats. Guard Imani Warren was able to force many of Sam Houston's turnovers, as she tallied four steals.
The Aggies ranked 11th among CUSA teams in turnover margin heading into Thursday at -3.05. NM State was averaging a conference-high 21.8 turnovers and was forcing a CUSA fifth-best 18.8 turnovers per game before facing the Bearkats.
Poor free-throw shooting also hurt Sam Houston, as it missed a majority of its attempts from the charity stripe at 14-for-29.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Three reasons behind NMSU women's basketball defeating Sam Houston