PHOENIX, Ariz. – Defense once again served as the catalyst to the NM State women's basketball team's success Thursday night as the Aggies forced 19 Grand Canyon turnovers en route to their 64-44 victory at GCU Arena.
 
"Our defense played very well today and we got our offense going," head coach Mark Trakh said. "Brooke played great for us in the first half and then Shanice [Davis] finished things off for us down the stretch."
 
Davis picked up the Aggies (19-3, 8-0 WAC) in the second half, and scored a game-high 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting – including a 3-for-3 night behind the arc. Brooke Salas nearly recorded her first-career double-double again, but settled for 11 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Her eight boards ties her season-high for the third time this year.
 
Moriah Mack also chipped in with 13 points, knocking down 5-of-8 from the floor while Tamera William had another great night on the defensive front with six points, eight boards, four assists and three steals.
 
"Tamera continues to be our anchor on the defensive end when we pressure the opposing teams," said Trakh. "She and Moriah have been great at either forcing the other team to turn the ball over or the ones getting the steal for us."
 
It was a slow night on the floor for both teams in the first half, but the NM State defense was yet again the park to its offense.
 
The Lopes had the lead just twice early on in the game, once with the opening basket and once more when Dana Jones knocked down both her free-throws to give GCU (12-12, 4-4 WAC) the 4-3 lead.

From that point on, the Aggies commanded the lead the rest of the way with its largest lead of the half coming at the 46 second mark of the second quarter when William found Brianna Freeman on the low block.
 
A last-second bucket by the Lopes made it 29-18 heading into the break, but not before NM State drained 5-of-9 from 3-point range. The Aggies finished the night shooting .526 from the floor (10-19), its best shooting-percentage from 3-point range all season. NM State shot .500 against NAU back in November and .481 against CSU Bakersfield.
 
After a back-and-forth third quarter, the Aggies' picked up their defense to pull away from the Lopes in the fourth quarter – 21-12. Davis played a big role in that run, reeling off eight points in the fourth.  
 
Thursday night's win was the third time this season NM State has held its opponents under 50. The two other times were against New Mexico (47) and Western New Mexico (39).
 
NM State now heads to Utah Valley for a 3 p.m. contest against the Wolverines. Saturday's game can be seen on the WAC Digital Network.
 
POSTGAME NOTES: With the win, NM State has now won 41 of its last 47 games dating back to last season…Aggies have also won seven-straight games when their opponents score first…Brandee Walton made her first field-goal of the season tonight when she drilled a 3-pointer with 47 seconds left in the game.