LAS CRUCES, NM – New Mexico State came in to this afternoon's Western Athletic Conference game on a 21 game WAC winning streak and they were looking to make it 22 in a row against the CSU Bakersfield women's basketball team. The `Runners had a great chance to end that winning streak, but in the end would fall to the first place Aggies 56-48.
CSUB jumped out to an early 13-5 lead behind the great all around play of redshirt junior
Jazmine Johnson's four points, two assists and one rebound in the first five plus minutes of the game. That forced the Aggies to call an early timeout. But, NMSU would finish the first quarter on an 8-2 run to cut the `Runners lead to 15-13 after the first ten minutes. `Runners freshman
Vanessa Austin was a perfect 3-3 from the field in the first quarter and led CSUB with 6 points.
The `Runners would take a 32-25 lead into halftime behind Austin and
Aja Williams eight points each. Johnson was the best player on the floor and was a thorn in the Aggies side the entire first half. JJ had seven points, two boards, two assists, one steal and had a plus/minus of +17 to lead all players. CSUB dominated in the paint offensively in the first half, outscoring NMSU 18-4 points in the paint.
CSUB would shoot 3 for 21 in the third quarter and the Aggies would take advantage and the lead for the first time in the game. NMSU outscored CSUB 16-6 in the quarter and would take a 41-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
The `Runners would take a 48-47 lead with 3:58 remaining in the game, but CSUB would go scoreless the rest of the way. The Aggies would finish the game on a 9-0 run and would get the 56-47 victory to remain undefeated in the WAC.
The `Runners would get 11 points from both Johnson and Williams to lead CSUB. The Aggies were able to overcome 21 turnovers and CSUB also outrebounded NMSU 42-37. The `Runners would shoot 19-65 from the field (29%), while NMSU was 19-46 (41%).
NMSU has now won 22 conference games in a row and the Aggies improve to 9-8 overall and 3-0 in the WAC. The `Runners fall to 8-9 and 2-1 in the WAC.
The `Runners will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 18, when CSUB welcomes WAC rival UMKC to the Icardo Center at 7 p.m.
