LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Although we're long past the era of cowboys, the old adage 'wild wild west' still holds true for the teams in the Western Athletic Conference. Hard defense, tough buckets and tons of emotion came out on the court inside the Pan American Center Thursday night, as NM State (11-10, 6-3 WAC) Abilene Christian (10-9, 4-4 WAC) Thursday night inside the Pan American Center.
 
Soufia Inoussa scorched the Wildcats for 28 points and five made threes, both career-highs for the senior from Stockholm, Sweeden. The Aggies drained a season high eight threes during the game on 14 attempts (57.1) – their second highest three-point percentage for the season. Taylor Donaldson was the only other Aggies to reach the double figure mark scoring ten points on four of six shot attempts.
 
The Aggies controlled the opening tip, and Sylena Peterson was ready for action, racing down the left side of the lane and dropping in a left-handed layup to put the first points on the board with 9:55 to go in the first frame. The two teams traded scores early, with four lead changes in the first 100 seconds of action. Facing a 6-4 deficit with the shot clock winding down, Soufia Inoussa found Sylena Peterson at the top of the key for a triple to give NM State a 7-6 advantage with 7:14 to go. Sylena returned the favor on the ensuing possession, giving Inoussa her first triple of the night. Knotted up at 10 with 4:49 left to go in the game, NM State closed the quarter on an 11-4 run including a buzzer beating jumper from the free throw line by Molly Kaiser to make it a 21-14 lead through one. The Aggies scored at an astounding 90% shooting clip in the first quarter, making nine of their ten shots including connecting on all three of their triple attempts.
 
Soufia Inoussa sank her third triple of the night to break the seal on second quarter scoring, a prelude to what would come from the Aggie offense in the second stanza. After back-to-back layups by Abilene Christian drew the lead within six (24-18), NM State held the Wildcats scoreless over the next four minutes, going on a 13-0 run to make it a 19-point lead with 3:56 left to go in the first half (37-18). Inoussa poured in six points over the scoring surge, bringing her to 15 points in her first 12 minutes of game action, tying a season high. Not down for the count yet, Abilene Christian went on a 11-3 run to make it a 40-29 game at the break.
 
Back-to-back buckets plus an and-one by Soufia Inoussa gave her a new season-high while tying her career best scoring output (20). Following the made free throw by Inousa, the Aggies were able to connect on their next two shot attempts after back-to-back layups by Sylena Peterson and Molly Kaiser pushed the Aggie lead back to 17. The Aggies were able to get out to their largest lead of the night (21) late into the fourth quarter after a second chance bucket by Ashlee Strawbridge with 4:11 left in the period. After a pair of made free throws by the Wildcats, ACU was able to bring their deficit back to 18 as the third quarter expired.
 
Despite facing an 18-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter, Abilene Christian refused to go quietly into the night. The Wildcats splashed a three right out the break and connected on their next two shot attempts bringing the Aggies lead down to 11. After a trio of missed opportunities to open the fourth, Soufia Inousa was able to get the Aggies on the board in the fourth. Tayelin Grays scored the next bucket of the game using a layup to score in the post, bringing the lead back to 15. A couple of made layups by ACU brought the game back to within single digits (9). A made three pointer on the fastbreak brought the Aggies lead down to six with 2:14 remaining in the game. Tayein Grays immediately answered with a triple of her own extending the Aggie lead back to nine with just over a minute to go. ACU was able to score a couple of time  down the stretch, but that wasn't enough to break the Aggies as they take down Abilene Christian, 69-61, to move to 6-3 in conference, and 11-10 overall.
 
Notes

• Soufia Inoussa set a new career-high mark with 28 points. Inoussa tied her season-high in points (15) in the first 18 minutes of action.
• The Aggies had their single best shooting performance in a quarter this season during the first period of play going 9-10 as a team.
• The team shot a season high in three pointers (8) as a team.
• Taylor Donaldson had her eighth double-digit scoring outburst of the season (10)
• NM State shot above 50% as a team for just the fifth time this season.
• Molly Kaiser played 38/40 minutes – her second highest total of the season and the second time in the last three games she's surpassed 35 minutes.
• The Aggies led the Wildcats for just over 35 minutes (35:07)
• NM State forced 17 turnovers in the game – the 13^th time they've forced 15+ turnovers this season.