Written by: NMSU Athletic Dept.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State women’s basketball team came up with its largest margin of victory for the season as they beat Hawai’i 71-53, at the Pan American Center on Thursday.
The NMSU bench played exceptional as they outscored the UH bench 37-15. Senior Irma Kmitiate-Smith (Sirvintos, Lithuania) led all players with 17 points as she came off the bench going 5-of-8 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point land and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. Head coach Darin Spence was happy with the way his team bounced back from a loss and how his senior shooter stepped up.
"I thought tonight was our biggest game of the year, because we were bouncing off a three-game road swing and a tough emotional loss," Spence said. "Irma did well tonight giving herself a chance to get shots off, and Monique also came off the bench and played really well."
In the game, the Aggies forced 21 UH turnovers and scored 22 points off those turnovers. Although UH outscored the Aggies in the paint, NMSU had a better field goal percentage. UH leads the conference on the boards, but the Aggies kept it close as they pulled down 42 rebounds and UH had 43. Senior Anikia Jawara (Atlanta, Ga.) led the way for NMSU on the boards with seven rebounds. She also added 15 points on seven field goals.
UH got out to an early 6-2 lead, but the Aggies wouldn’t let that lead last long as they went on a 7-2 run with Jawara leading the way. She tied up the game at 8-8 with a short range field goal, then was elbowed in the face by a Wahine player who was called for an intentional. Jawara made one of two free throws.
With 11:22 left in the half, Kmitaite-Smith hit a three and followed it with another trey at 10:19 to give NMSU a 17-14 lead. Neither team would score until the 6:41 mark when UH made a lay-up to get within one of the Aggies. That forced coach Spence to call a timeout and talk things out with his team.
NMSU got out of their scoring drought when Kmitaite-Smith hit her third 3-pointer of the half to take a 20-16 with 4:47 left. She was 3-of-5 to this point.
Monique Bribiescas (Gilbert, Ariz.) hit a three from the corner to take a 27-21 lead with 1:14 left in the half, but UH answered right back with a three of their own to cut the lead to 27-23 to go into the locker room at the half.
NMSU hit four 3-pointers compared to the Rainbow Wahine’s two. The Aggies were also able to force nine UH turnovers and scored five points off those turnovers in the first half. Kmitaite-Smith led all scorers with 11 points as she shot an outstanding 4-of-7 from the field. NMSU worked hard on the boards, but the Rainbow Wahine height showed as the Aggies were out-rebounded 27-24 in the first 20 minutes of play.
Madison Spence scored the first field goal of the second half, which was followed by a Niki Holt (Tulia, Texas) 3-pointer. It was her second 3-pointer of the season. When Jawara came up with her third field goal of the game, the Aggies went up by 10 taking a 34-24 lead.
NMSU continued an 8-5 scoring run and went up 42-31 with 13:40 left in the half. After two free throws from Kmitaite-Smith and a three from Bribiescas, NMSU took the largest lead of the game at 47-32. Bribiescas hit her third trey of the game with 11:34 left in the game and put the Aggies up 50-34.
With those two 3-pointers by Bribiescas, she moved into sixth on the all-time 3-pointers made list with 120.
As UH went on a 5-0 run to take the score to 54-43, Jawara hit an eight-foot jump shot to put her team ahead 56-43 at 7:53. Kmitaite-Smith brought a roar from the crowd as she was fouled and made her ensuing free throw for the four-point play. The Aggies were now up 62-44.
Freshman Danisha Corbett (San Diego, Calif.) scored her first points of the game with 3:32 left and gave NMSU a 68-51 lead. Freshman forward Erica Sanchez (Chula Vista, Calif.) scored her first points of the season as she hit a 10-foot jumper to extended the lead to 70-51 with 1:17 left.
The Aggies play at home again Saturday, Feb. 2 when they host San Jose State at the Pan American Center. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. (MST) and can be caught locally on the radio at KSNM AM 570. Fans can also follow along with live stats on the internet at www.nmstatesports.com.
