The Wildcats (10-9, 4-4) traveled to Las Cruces, New Mexico Thursday night taking on the New Mexico State Aggies (11-10, 6-3), where they fell in a close battle, 61-69.
These two teams met last in January of 2022, where the Wildcats secured the close victory at home, 76-73. The Aggies are tied for fourth while the Wildcats are tied for sixth in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
The game started with an early take by New Mexico State with them gaining a made layup four seconds into the game. Yet, the Wildcats were right there with sophomore guard Bella Earle sinking a 3-pointer not even a minute later.
In the first half alone, the lead switched seven times with the score being tied three times. It wasn’t until two minutes left when the Aggies started to pull away. New Mexico State went on a seven-point run, starting with a three-point jumper by Soufia Inoussa, leading them to take the first quarter, 21-14.
The second quarter did not turn around quickly enough for the Wildcats to get out of a deficit. With four minutes until half, the Aggies had a 19-point hold on ACU, right after the Wildcats called a timeout. Going into the half, the Wildcats caught up to only being down by 11 but ended at, 29-40.
As the third quarter started, the Wildcats knew they were going to have to turn this momentum around to be able to gain back this game. Despite ACU tallying several shots, they were unable to make crucial points, allowing the Aggies to stay ahead. With two and a half minutes of no scoring, graduate forward Maleeah Langstaff broke the silence with a layup, putting ACU behind 19 points. Going into the last quarter, the Wildcats were down 39-57 and were relying on this last push to gain a win.
The Wildcat defense clicked starting the fourth quarter, allowing the offense to outnumber the Aggies’. ACU went on a seven-point run within the first two minutes, pushing the lead down to 11. As much as New Mexico State worked to keep the Wildcats down, they were unable and the margin closed in at six points. Despite fighting until the end, the Wildcats were unable to gain the win and fell to the Aggies, 61-69.
Reaching her 1000 point milestone in her last game, graduate guard Madi Miller recorded 13 points and went 3-3 in free throws, giving ACU crucial points. Red-shirt freshman forward Addison Martin and Langstaff both recorded 18 points each and tallied 10 rebounds between the two of them, leading the Wildcat offense.
The Wildcats next head to Phoenix, Arizona to take on Grand Canyon University at 3 p.m. Saturday in GCU Arena, streaming on ESPN+.
Quotes will be added following head coach Julie Goodenough’s press conference on Monday.
