Opening Tip
• NM State women's basketball (9-9, 4-2 WAC) is back on the road this week for two conference matchups against Grand Canyon (13-4, 5-1 WAC) and Seattle U (1-14, 1-4 WAC).
• NM State dropped it's last outing at home to Utah Tech (67-65) after almost completing a double-digit comeback in the second half, ultimately losing after a shot at the buzzer bounced off the back iron, which would have given them the win had it gone in.
• Grand Canyon quite possibly is the hottest team in the WAC right now as they ride a five-game win streak heading into the week after dropping their conference opener to Utah Valley in double overtime a couple weeks ago.
• GCU is 11-7 against the Aggies all time and have taken the last three matchups against them by a combined score of 168-154.  
 
Last Time Out
• Molly Kaiser reached 500 career points in the third quarter, ending the night with 15 points, while tallying career-highs in rebounds (8) and steals (5).
• Tayelin Grays finished with 22 points, a new career-high and her third double-digit output of the season becoming only the second Aggie to surpass 20 points in a game this season.
• Grays finished with nine rebounds, just one board shy of a double-double.
• Moe Shida recorded a season-high in points (5) while making her second triple of the season.
• The Aggies shot a season high 30 three-point attempts on the night but were only able to connect on five of them.
• This was the 13^th game this season that has been decided by single digits for the Aggies. The Aggies are now 5-8 in games decided by single digits.
•NM State held a slight rebound advantage over Utah Tech (38-33).
• The Aggies were able to hang with the bision despite being outshot 50.1% to 30.3% throughout the game.
• The team had one of their better shooting performances from the charity stripe shooting an efficient 82.4% (14-17).
 
Defense. Defense. Defense
• NM State is allowing just 58.8 points a game to their opponents this season which is the lowest average amongst WAC schools so far.
• Nationally, the Aggies carry the 48th highest turnover margin in the country and second highest margin in the WAC at +4.11 forcing 19.50 turnovers a contest, which is the 49^th best in the nation and third in the WAC.
• Additionally, NM State ranks 40th in the nation in steals per game (10.3) and third in the WAC.
 
Minutes for Everybody
• There is no shortage of minutes on Jody Adams' squad this season – 10 different players are averaging 10+ minutes for the team this season with two others averaging over nine minutes per game.
• Soufia Inoussa leads the team in minutes averaging 29.7 per game this season. The other nine players averaging double digit minutes include Taylor Donaldson (29.4), Molly Kaiser (26.6), Fama Thaim (25.3), Sylena Peterson (22.4), Ashlee Strawbridge (21.0), Taylein Grays (20.4), Shania Harper (14.5), Sabou Gueye (11.3) and Ene Adams (10.8).
• Mo Shida (9.2) and Lucia Yenes (9.1) are both just shy of averaging 10+ minutes a game.
 
Changing the Landscape
• In her first season as Head Coach, Jody Adams has jumpstarted the Aggies to their best start in conference (4-2) play since the 2018-2019 season when the team finished the year 15-1 in WAC play.
• After the season got out to a slow 3-7 start, the Aggies have shifted their narrative and have won six of their last eight games including three straight on the road.  
• Last season, the Aggies went 0-12 on the road overall. They've improved that mark this season with an even 4-4 road record under the leadership of Adams.
• With nine wins on the season, Adams has the Aggies one win away from matching their season win total from last year (10).
 
Scouting the Lopes
• Grand Canyon (11-4, 5-1 WAC) currently sits second in the WAC standings and third in the WAC resume seeding system with 1.24 total points.
• The team is in the midst of a five-game winning streak defeating CBU (70-60), Tarleton (70-51), SFA (74-70), UT Arlington (77-75) and UTRGV (61-52).
• The Trio of Olivia Lane, Naudia Evans and Tiarra Brown lead the Lopes in scoring all averaging over 10 points a game.
• GCU carries the third best scoring offence in the WAC averaging 74.5 points a game. They also have the second-best scoring defense in the conference holding opponents to 59.18 points a game.
 
Up Next
• After their date in Phoenix, NM State will hop on a plane and head up north to Seattle where they are scheduled to play the Red Hawks Saturday at 8 p.m. From there the Aggies will return to the Pan Am next Thursday to take on Abilene Christian before hitting the road again the following week.