New Mexico State (16-15, 10-8 WAC) women’s basketball grabbed a 65-49 win over UT Rio Grande Valley in the first round of the WAC Tournament at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday.
NMSU junior guard Molly Kaiser had one of her best performances of the season on Monday night. Kaiser dropped 25 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the floor, 1-of-1 from three-point land, and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe in 34 minutes played. It was Kaiser’s third time scoring 20 or more points in her last four games.
“She just does a great job playing the ball screen and making the second and third reads,” NM State head coach Jody Adams said. “When you have a talented player like that, sometimes it is just like ‘get out of the way coach’.”
In the first half, Kaiser had 16 of the team’s 36 points. New Mexico State went into halftime with a 36-25 lead.
In the second half, UTGRV got as close as six points, 36-30, with 9:30 to go in the 3rd quarter. The Aggies extended their lead back out to double digits after an Ene Adams lay-up with 5:21 to go in the 3rd period.
UTRGV did not manage to cut down their deficit to single digits after that, as NMSU played their way to a 16-point win once the final buzzer sounded.
Kaiser scored 25 points to lead the team. Tayelin Grays was the only other Aggies to finish the night in double figures when it came to scoring with 13 points. Taylor Donaldson and Sylena Peterson each had 9 points and Ene Adams collected 8 points.
UTRGV was led by Iyana Dorsey who scored 18 points. Half of Dorsey’s points came off of free throws as she went 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Tiffa McGarity tallied 14 points in 5-of-16 shooting from the floor. Kacee Kyle recorded seven points and Ari Sturdivant had six points.
The 7th-seeded Aggies will now face the No. 2 seed in the tournament: Southern Utah. NMSU and Southern Utah will duke it in the quarterfinal round of the WAC Tournament on Wednesday, Mar. 8. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. MT at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
