Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

DENVER, CO - New Mexico State sophomore guard Madison Spence was named to the All-WAC second team by the conference head coaches, as was announced Sunday by the WAC office. Freshmen Kaitlyn Soto and Tabytha Wampler were selected to the league’s all-freshman team.

Spence (Las Cruces/Mayfield HS) joins Anikia Jawara(2008) and Sherell Neal (2007 and 2008) as the school’s three all-WAC honorees and the first Aggie sophomore to be named to an all-conference team since Melanie Maynes in the Big West in 2000.

Soto (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Wampler (Cottonwood, Calif.) become just the fourth and fifth Aggies ever to be named to an all-freshman team. This is the first time in school history that two Aggie freshman have been selected to the all-freshman team in the same season.

Head coach Darin Spence was pleased to see three of his student-athletes honored by the league.

"It's good recognition for these kids," Spence said. "They are all deserving of the honors, especially when you have three athletes recognized when you did not had the best year. They all worked really hard for us and I am very proud of them."

Spence leads the Aggies this season in scoring, free throw shooting and assists. Her 14.3 points per game are the third most in the conference this season and she stands sixth in the league with a 78.0 free-throw percentage heading into next week’s conference tournament.

Her nine 20-point games this year were the second most in the WAC and she had two games scoring over 25 points, including a 30-point performance at Kent State, Nov. 23. Spence set a new NM State sophomore record for most free throws made (110) in a season. In 2007-08, she was named to the WAC’s all-freshman team.

Wampler was the team’s fourth leading scorer as a freshman at 7.2 points per game and she led the team with 152 rebounds. She’s started in 26 of the 30 games she has played in and shot 40.9 percent from the field. Wampler has nine double-digit scoring performances this season and has led the team in scoring five times. Her career-high of 15 points came in her first-ever WAC game at Utah State, Jan. 8.

Soto has played in all 30 games for the Aggies and has averaged 6.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and is second on the team with 60 assists (2.0 apg). Soto has scored in double-figures eight times and she led the Aggies in assists 11 times. Her 17 points against Nevada, Feb. 13, were a season-high and she had one seven-rebound game and one six-assist game.

The Aggies look for continued success at the WAC Tournament, where they have reached the championship game in each of the past three seasons. NM State, the No. 7 seed, faces No. 2 seed Louisiana Tech in the opening round, Wednesday, March 11 at 9:30 p.m. MT in the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev. Fans can watch the game live at WAC.tv or listen to the game on KSNM-AM 570 with Kyle Doperalski.