LAS CRUCES – The hometown Aggies (9-14, 5-8) showed their ability to battle as they initially went toe-to-toe with Stephen F. Austin (21-3, 12-0) before the Ladyjacks used a high-scoring third quarter to pull away and earn a 69-55 victory on Valentine's Day.
 
NM State was led in the scoring column by Molly Kaiser who finished with a career-high 20 points off the bench. After posting six points on Saturday, Bigue Sarr returned to her usual production as she finished the afternoon with 12 points and 15 rebounds, including five offensive boards.
 
As a team, the Aggies posted their best free-throw shooting performance of the season as they went 13-of-14 from the line. However, the Aggies could not connect from three-point range for the second consecutive game after hitting nine triples in the three-overtime thriller with Dixie State last Thursday.
 
The Ladyjacks were powered by Zya Nugent who posted a career-high 31 points on 10-of-17 from the field while also pulling down seven rebounds. The Aggie defense did do their jobs in stopping the powerful post play of the 'Jacks leading scorer and rebounder Aiyana Johnson as she finished with just five points and four rebounds in 23 minutes of action.
 
FIRST QUARTER
· Jade Bradley and Bigue Sarr helped NM State start off on the right foot as they each scored to put the Aggies ahead 4-0 to start the contest.
· Stephen F. Austin quickly responded as it scored the next six points to take its first lead of the afternoon.
· It was then a back-and-forth battle between Sarr and SFA's Zya Nugent as Sarr scored four for the Aggies and Nugent knocked down a pair of triples to set the score at 12-8 in favor of the Ladyjacks with 4:49 left in the opening period.
· Molly Kaiser also put her first points of the game on the board in the first quarter when she scored at the 2:23 mark to cap off a quick 4-0 run for the Aggies and cut the deficit to just two points before Nugent hit a pair of free throws to put NM State behind 12-16 to end the first.
 
SECOND QUARTER
· Kaiser used her first quarter two-pointer to build some momentum for herself as she scored the next four Aggie points ahead of Sarr connecting on two free throws to even the score at 18 apiece with 6:20 remaining in the second.
· It remained a back-and-forth affair over the next four minutes as the Aggies and Ladyjacks found themselves tied at 26 with just over one minute left to play in the first half.
· Kaiser then knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to give the Aggies their first lead since they led 4-0 early in the first quarter.
· Kaiser was well on her way to posting an impressive total as she scored 10 points in the second quarter and finished the first half with a game-high 12 points
· Sarr also had a dominant first half as she posted 10 points and finished the first half just one rebound shy of a double-double to help the Aggies to within two points of the Ladyjacks who entered Monday with a 14-0 record in WAC play.
 
THIRD QUARTER
· The Aggies immediately tied up the score as Sarr scored on the first possession of the second half, however, the Ladyjacks then scored eight unanswered to take a 38-30 lead with 8:02 remaining in the third quarter.
· A Kaiser jump shot would temporarily end the Ladyjacks' scoring burst and bring her total to 14 on the game.
· The next three minutes of the quarter turned into a battle between Nugent and the Aggies as Nugent scored the next nine points for SFA while Taylor Donaldson, Adrianna Henderson and Tayelin Grays combined for five points. This put the score at 49-37 with the Ladyjacks in control.
· The Aggies struggled to find a score in the final two minutes of the quarter as Soufia Inoussa was responsible for the lone Aggie basket when she scored with 35 seconds left to cut the lead to 13 heading into the fourth.
 
FOURTH QUARTER
· The final period returned to the way of the first two quarters as neither team scored more than four points without allowing the other side to answer.
· NM State's first four points came thanks to the efforts of Adrianna Henderson who took a long rebound off a missed three-pointer and found Grays running in transition then Henderson collected a steal and found Kaiser streaking down the floor.
· In spite of Henderson's ability to create offense for the Aggies, SFA had pushed its way to its largest lead of the day when they led 62-45 with 5:46 left to play.
· Freshman Sylena Peterson then came off the bench to make an impact when she brought the ball up the floor and found Shania Harper with a wraparound pass in the paint to help Harper score her first points of the afternoon.
· Stephen F. Austin's Zya Nugent would score the final points of the afternoon to put her game total at 31 to mark the highest single scoring effort versus the Aggies this season.
 
UP NEXT
· The Aggies now hit the road after having four games inside the Pan American Center as they travel to St. George, Utah, for the second installment of their two-game series with Dixie State.
· In the season's first meeting, the two teams battled to triple overtime before the Aggies prevailed, 84-82.