Opening Tip
• NM State women's basketball (14-14, 9-7 WAC) embarks on its final road trip of the regular season as they prepare to take on Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston in a couple of mid-week conference matchups before they head to the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas next week.
• The Aggies are coming off a relatively light week after only having to play one game in the past seven days, defeating UT Arlington in the Pan-Am last Thursday
• The Lumberjacks carry the second-best record in the conference (13-3) and hold the top overall seed in next week's tournament according to the WAC's new resume seeding system.
• SFA is 2-0 in the all-time series with the Aggies winning 69-55 last February and 64-56 back in March.
 
Last Time Out
• NM State played just one game last week against UT Arlington for its final home stanza of the season.
• After leading the entirety of the ball game, NM State was able to put the Lady Mavs to bed, 69-60, despite a late fourth-quarter push from Starr Jacobs and her team.
• Molly Kaiser set a new career-high with 27 points; her 19^th game with 10+ points this season and sixth in the last seven games.
Molly Kaiser and Starr Jacobs combined for 53 of the 129 points scored in the game.
• Ene Adams tallied a career-high with 12 points, her first game in double-digits on the season and first during her time at NM State; she also added eight rebounds.
• The Aggies set a new season-high with 20 points from the free-throw line, shooting 77% from the field.
• Both teams lived in the paint, scoring 34 points in the area, making a single three. 
• NM State capitalized on its second-chance opportunities, converting for 19 second-chance points to go with their eleven offensive rebounds.
• The Lady Mavs were only able to produce five points in the second quarter tying a single-quarter low for the Aggies' defense this season.
 
Defense. Defense. Defense
• NM State is allowing just 60.6 points a game this season to opponents, the second-best scoring defense in the WAC this season.
• The Aggies possess one of the best turnover margins in the country, tallying the 29th-best turnover margin nationally (+4.39) and the best margin in the WAC. As a team, NM State forces 18.9 turnovers per contest, which is the 39th-best in the nation and the third-best in the WAC.
• Additionally, NM State ranks 47th in the nation in steals per game (9.6) and fifth in the WAC.
 
Changing the Landscape
• In her first season as Head Coach, Jody Adams has jump started the Aggies to their best record in conference play (8-7) since the 2018-2019 season when the team finished the year 15-1 in WAC play and went on to win the WAC Tournament.
• After the season got out to a slow 3-7 start, the Aggies have shifted their narrative winning ten of the next 17 games played, including five wins on the road.
• Last season, the Aggies went 0-12 on the road overall and have improved to six road wins this season. This marks the most road victories since the 18-19 season (11-5 road record).
• With 13 wins on the year, Adams has surpassed the Aggies' win total from last season (10), with three contests still left to be played.
 
Agent 0
• With 18 double-digit performances on the season, including 14 in conference play, Molly Kaiser has been a consistent force for the Aggies on the scoring front.
• Kaiser currently paces the team in scoring averaging 12.1 points per game on the season with that number jumping up to 13.0 points a contest since the start of WAC play. Kaiser also leads the team in field goal percentage (.420) and free throw percentage (.833).
• On January 14th, 2023, Kaiser eclipsed the 500-career point mark after dropping 15 points against Utah Tech – also setting a career-high in rebounds (8) and steals (5).
 
Scouting the Lumberjacks
• SFA is one of the best teams in the WAC this year bolstering a 23-5 overall record and 13-3 record in conference.
• The Lady Jacks currently hold the top overall seed in next week's WAC Tournament in Las Vegas with their league-high 6.18 points – over three points higher than the next-best team, Southern Utah (3.02).
• The team is a force on both ends of the floor, leading the conference in scoring offense (76.25) and scoring defense (59.21) for a margin of +17.1.
• SFA also shoots the ball very effectively with their .474 percent shooting clip – also good for best in the conference. However, they are not as effective from three shooting a .343 percent clip, which is middle of the pack.
 
Up Next
NM State will have one game remaining in Texas versus the Bearkats of Sam Houston before returning home for the weekend to prepare themselves for their last WAC Tournament in Las Vegas, which starts the following Monday.