Written by: NMSU Athletic Dept.
Also See: 2008 WAC Basketball Championship Week Info
HONOLULU, HI – Freshman guard Danisha Corbett's layup with 11 seconds to play gave the Aggies their first lead of the game as the New Mexico State women's basketball team came back from a 14-point second half deficit to win a nail biter over Hawai'i, 59-58 at the Stan Sheriff Center Saturday night.
The Aggies, who enter the WAC Tournament as the No. 3 seed, finish the regular season with a 21-8 record and 11-5 WAC record. Hawai'i falls to 12-16 and 6-9 in WAC play this season.
The Wahine came out on fire in the first 20 minutes of the game, shooting 45.2 percent from the field and making 7-of-12 3-point attempts to give them a 14-point halftime lead. The Aggies only shot 27.3 percent in the opening half, were 0-4 from beyond the 3-point line and turned the ball over seven times.
Freshman guard Danisha Corbett fueled a 17-2 second half run with six points and a couple of steals as the Wahine had 11 turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the second half that allowed NMSU to cut the 14-point halftime lead down to one.
The Aggies were down by four with 31 seconds when freshman guard Madison Spence hit a three to pull NMSU back within one. Hawai'i could not make its free throws and with 11 seconds to play senior forward Anikia Jawara found Corbett for a layup to give NMSU its first lead of the game and the victory.
Corbett scored a career-high 10 points and played a huge role getting the Aggies back into the game. Jawara had a game high 20 points while senior forward Sherell Neal had her 14th double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Head coach Darin Spence said afterwards that his team sometimes does things the hard way.
"They were on fire early on their senior night and did a lot of things well," Spence said. "Danisha was phenomenal tonight for us and that's what you call manufacturing a win right there."
Hawai'i opened up the game shooting flawlessly, as they made 5-of-6 3-point attempts to open up a 29-13 lead in the first 10:27 of the game. Neal scored seven of those 13 points and had six rebounds in that time frame.
At 7:36 Keisha Kanekoa hit her second 3-pointer and the teams sixth, ending a 17-3 Wahine run. Junior guard Tyshae Walton then hit a jumper from the right elbow, which was the Aggies first field goal in nearly five minutes.
Ebony Jones's layup at 3:17 put the Wahine up by 19, but the Aggies outscored Hawai'i 6-1 in the final minutes of the half to cut UH's lead down to 14 going into the locker rooms.
The 38 first half points was the second most that the Aggies have surrendered this season.
For the first three minutes of the second half both teams traded baskets before the Aggies scored six unanswered points to pull within 10. Freshman guard Danisha Corbett got a layup on the fast break after a steal before senior guard Monique Bribiescas found sophomore guard Hannah Spanich wide open off an inbounds play at the end of that little stretch.
Corbett then got a baseline jumper at 12:08 to cut the Wahine lead back into single digits for the first time since we were halfway through the first half. Jawara followed Corbett's jumper with a bucket in the paint and then Bribiescas hit a three from the top of the key to end a 13-0 run that got NMSU within three, 44-41.
Tara Hittle ended a nearly seven minutes scoreless stretch for the Wahine with a bucket, but Corbett and Jawara answered again with buckets to cut UH's lead down to one with nine minutes to play.
With just under five minutes to go the Rainbow Wahine still were in possession of a three point lead. The Aggies started having trouble on the offensive end, which prevented them from capturing the lead. Two Hittle free throws put Hawai'i up by five at the four minute mark.
Jawara put in two free throws on four attempts over the next minute and a half, but then Amy Kotani hit a three from the corner at 2:07 to put Hawai'i up by six. Spence immediately answered with a 15-foot jumper to get it back to four.
After a couple of defensive stops, Spence hit a three with 31.8 second remaining to cut the UH lead back down to one again. Then with 11 second to play Jawara found Corbett for a layup to give the Aggies the winning their first lead of the game and the winning bucket.
New Mexico State now enters the WAC Championships as the No. 3 seed, the highest ever seed for the Aggies going into the tournament in their three years in the conference. NMSU turns around and faces No. 6 seed Hawai'i once again in the first round on Wednesday, March 12 in the Pan American Center.
