EL PASO, TEXAS – NM State dropped the opening round of this year's I-10 rivalry as the Aggies went on the road for the first time this season. UTEP's 32-points off turnovers was the difference maker in a 61-76 loss.
 
Senior Tayelin Grays was the Aggies top scorer on the night with 15 points. Meanwhile, Taylor Donaldson and Molly Kaiser also reached double-digits in El Paso. Donaldson finished the night with 13 points and Kaiser posted 12 points. The Aggies leading board-getter was Bigue Sarr, pulling down seven rebounds among the UTEP bigs.
 
Three early points from Jade Bradley sparked a quick start for the Aggies as they led 9-4 with 5:24 remaining in the first. The Miners would go on a four-point run to tie the game at 9-9 before a Taylor Donaldson three-pointer put the Aggies back up three. The Aggies were ultimately outscored 8-2 in the final 2:41 of the quarter to finish the period trailing by three. The Aggies struggled to take care of the ball in the first as 15 of the Miners first quarter points came off nine NM State turnovers.
 
In the second, the Miners opened up the lead to five points before a free throw from Donaldson and a jumper from Grays reduced the gap to just two points. The largest lead of the half came in the second period as UTEP pushed its lead to eight with 31 seconds left. Despite shooting just under 64 percent from the field in the second, the Aggies entered the break down six.
 
A Tayelin Grays three-pointer kicked off the scoring in the third quarter. After a dry spell, the Aggies scored again at the 4:57 mark in the quarter on a Mel Isbell jumper. For the quarter, The Miners shot nearly 80 percent to outscore the Aggies 20-14 and head into the final quarter with a 57-45 lead.
 
The Aggie offense seemed to find some footing leading into, and in, the fourth quarter. A Molly Kaiser transition jumper cut the lead to just eight with 8:36 left to go. The Miners lead then ballooned back up to 14 in less than two minutes. Despite reducing the deficit to eight again with just over four minutes remaining, the Miners offense scored the final seven points of the game to finish with a 76-61 win.
 
UP NEXT
The Aggies will not return to the court until after Thanksgiving when they travel to Puerto Rico for the San Juan Invitational. In a two-day span, NM State will take on both LSU and Tennessee Tech.