New Mexico State women beat Utah Valley on the road

OREM, Utah – The New Mexico State women’s basketball team built a 15-point lead going into the fourth quarter before withstanding a comeback attempt from UVU for a 72-63 road win, the team’s ninth-straight victory on Thursday afternoon.   

After Brooke Salas got into foul trouble early, the Wolverines (12-11, 6-4) raced out to an early 6-0 lead. However, Monique Mills kicked off a 7-0 run, ended by a three from Gia Pack, as NM State (18-6, 10-1) took a 7-6 lead at 5:13 mark of the first quarter. Utah Valley was able to regain the lead at 12-6 before the Aggies closed the quarter on a 9-2 run for a 16-14 lead after the end of one.

The two sides went back-and-forth to start the period with a Pack three tying the game at 23 with 5:51 in the half. Dominique Mills then made two free throws out of the media timeout before back-to-back threes from the Wolverines gave them a 29-25 lead at the 2:30 mark. Next, NM State got buckets from Adenike Aderinto and Pack but still trailed 31-29 at the break. New Mexico State forced 10 UVU turnovers in the first half while Gia Pack scored 12 points in the half.

Utah Valley extended its lead to 35-31 at the 8:28 mark in the third period. However, the Aggies responded with a 15-2 run, kicked off by a three from Pack, as NM State took a 46-37 lead with 4:30 in the third. New Mexico State stayed hot for the rest of the quarter and took a 56-41 lead into the fourth after a three-point play from Stabresa McDaniel. Salas dropped 13 points in the quarter after sitting out much of the first half with foul trouble as New Mexico State outscored the Wolverines 27-10 in the third quarter while shooting 10-17.

The fourth started slowly with neither team scoring until a Gia Pack layup at the 8:00 mark. After Adenike Aderinto hit a pair of free throws to extend NM State’s lead to 60-44, UVU began a furious comeback attempt. Utah Valley used a 14-r run to trim the Aggies’ lead to six with 2:50 to play. Although, New Mexico State then closed the game on an 8-3 run for the final tally of Aggies 72, Wolverines 63.

Pack led all scorers with 23 points on 9-18 shooting from the floor to along with three three-pointers. Salas added her 16th double-double of the season with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Seventeen of Salas’ 21 points came in the second half.

As a squad, NM State forced 18 UVU turnovers on the day while outrebounding the Wolverines 40-33. New Mexico State shot .444 (28-63) from the field while Utah Valley shot .413 (26-63).

The Aggies are back in action as they visit Seattle U on Saturday at 3 p.m. That game is set to be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network.