Written by: Jason Groves/Sun-News Reporter
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Basketball coaches talk about defending home court and stealing games on the road.
The New Mexico State University women's basketball team did its job at home and the Aggies are 6-2 and in third place in the Western Athletic Conference as a result. The Aggies finish the WAC schedule with five of their last seven on the road, starting with tonight's game at Idaho.
NMSU then hopes to complete a sweep of second-place Boise State (7-2) on Saturday.
"It's huge if you want to win the league," Aggies head coach Darin Spence said. "If you get four, or at least three road wins and you win your home games, you give yourself a chance."
The Aggies (16-5, 6-2 WAC) are hoping to win their seventh WAC game, which would be a season high since joining the league in 2005.
Spence said tonight's game is a "winnable game" since the Aggies defeated the 2-18 Vandals 73-61 at the Pan American Center on Jan. 3. Four Aggies scored in double figures in that game for the Aggies.
Idaho is 1-7 in the WAC this season. Sophomore forward Katie Madison leads the team with 13.1 points per game to go with 6.6 rebounds. Freshman Yinka Olorunnife leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per game.
"We want to make them work for everything and keep everyone in check and not let any one player have a huge night," Spence said.
Spence said his senior-laden team is focused on Idaho and not looking ahead to a possible sweep of the WAC Tournament champions.
"All we talk about is trying to get a split on the road," Spence said. "If you win that one, you start getting greedy and talk about the sweep."
Tonight's game tips at 8 p.m. Fans can listen to both games this week on 570 KSNM-AM.
Jason Groves can be reached at jgroves@lcsun-news.com
