Opening Tip
• NM State women's basketball (12-10, 7-3 WAC) looks to extend their three-game win streak on Saturday as they get set to host Grand Canyon for the second game of the season series.
• The Aggies return home after a tight road win Thursday at California Baptist which saw four Aggies reach double figures helping the team to a narrow 62-61 victory in Riverside.
• Grand Canyon most recently defeated Abilene Christian (68-59) ending their two-game skid, which featured losses to California Baptist (78-70) and Southern Utah (63-60).
• This will be the second time the two teams face one another within the last month. The Lopes were able to rally past the Aggies in a tight overtime affair back in Phoenix (Jan. 19) defeating the crimson and white, 69-62 (OT).
• The Aggies are 11-8 all-time against the lopes but have dropped the last four matchups dating back to January 2021.
 
Last Time Out
• The Aggies rode out of Riverside Thursday with a 62-61 win over the Lancers after some late game heroics from Soufia Inoussa.
• NM State extended their win streak to three games with the win – the third three-game win streak the Aggies have produced this season. 
• The Aggies also moved to 7-3 in conference play surpassing their conference win total from a season ago (6).
• The Aggies recorded their sixth road with of the season – the most since the 2018-2019 season when the team featured an 11-4 road record. 
• Sylena Peterson led the Aggies in scoring with 15 points.
• Ashlee Strawbridge tied a career-high in scoring with 13 points. 
• Molly Kaiser found herself with double figures in the scoring column once again and was just one rebound shy of recording her first career double-double.
• Tayelin Grays matched a season high in rebounds with nine boards for the game. 
• NM State forced 17 turnovers in the match – the 20^th time this season they have forced an opponent to 15+ turnovers in a game.
 
WAC Player of The Week
• In a release issued by the Western Athletic Conference Monday afternoon, it was announced that senior guard Soufia Inoussa was named this week's WAC Women's Player of the Week after having a career night against Abilene Christian last Thursday when she scored 28 points helping her team to a 69-61 victory over the Wildcats.
• This marks the first time in her career that Inoussa has brought home a WAC weekly award honor and becomes the first Aggie since Gia Pack (Jan. 20th, 2020) to win the award.
• Inoussa was one of only five players in the conference last week to record over 20 points and was the only player to record 25 plus points. Aside from dropping 28 points during last week's win, Inoussa also set a career high in three pointers made going 5-8 from behind the arc.
 
Defense. Defense. Defense
• NM State is allowing just 59.0 points a game this season to opponents, leading the WAC and ranking 62nd nationally.
• The Aggies possess one of the best turnover margins in the country, tallying the 37th best turnover margin nationally (+4.18) and second highest margin in the WAC. As a team, NM State forces 19.36 turnovers a contest, which is 44th best in the nation and third in the WAC.
• Additionally, NM State ranks 40th in the nation in steals per game (10.0) and third in the WAC.
 
The Sum of Our Parts
• Coach Jody Adams' squad this season is built on balance, with a deep rotation and scoring from all over the court.  Ten different players are averaging 10+ minutes for the team this season, while eight average at least 4.5 points a contest.
• Soufia Inoussa leads the team in minutes averaging 30.4 per game this season. The other nine players averaging double digit minutes include Taylor Donaldson (29.1), Molly Kaiser (28.4), Fama Thaim (25.3), Sylena Peterson (22.4), Tayelin Grays (22.1), Ashlee Strawbridge (20.6), Shania Harper (16.4), Ene Adams (10.2), Sabou Gueye (10.0).
• Molly Kaiser paces the team on the scoring front, managing 11.5 points a game, with that average bumping up to 12.2 in conference play. In total, six players are averaging five or more points a contest since the start of conference play: Kaiser (12.2), Sylena Peterson (9.1), Tayelin Grays (8.8), Shania Harper (8.4), Soufia Inoussa (8.3), and Taylor Donaldson (6.6).
 
Changing the Landscape
• In her first season as Head Coach, Jody Adams has jump started the Aggies to their best start in conference (7-3) 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 seven of their last ten games and nine of their last 15, including five of their last six road games.
• Last season, the Aggies went 0-12 on the road overall and have improved to six road wins this season, including a 4-1 record against WAC competition. This marks the most road victories since the 18-19 season (11-5 road record).
• With 12 wins on the year, Adams has surpassed the Aggies win total from last season (10), with eight contests still left to be played.
 
Scouting the Lopes
• Grand Canyon (15-6, 7-3 WAC) currently ranks third in the WAC standings and WAC resume seeding system with 0.99 total points.
• The Lopes are 7-3 over their last ten games.
• The trio of Naudia Evans (11.1), Olivia Lane (10.9) and Tiarra Brown lead the Lopes in scoring with each averaging over ten points a game this season. 
• The Lopes are scoring 73.1 points a game while allowing 60.4 points, giving them a +12.6 scoring margin, which ranks third in the WAC. As a team, GCU has scored 133 three-pointers shooting a 30.6% clip, which is good for second in the conference.
 
Up Next
• The Aggies will match up with another pair of top conference opponents next week when they head up to Utah to take on Southern Utah (Thursday, Feb. 9) and Utah Tech (Saturday, Feb. 11) before returning home for their final stretch of home games this season (Feb. 16 – Feb. 23)