Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

DENVER, CO - That’s one way to start your career. Freshman Matalasi Faapito was named Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week after dominating the Troy Cox Classic to open her collegiate career.

The native of Temecula, Calif., went 8-11 (.727) at the plate to start her career and bashed four home runs. Faapito is slugging a jaw-dropping 1.909 and is reaching base safely at a .750 clip. The 5-11 slugger only struck out once and drove in eight runs. In a 13-4 run-rule win over Bradley, Faapito went 3-3 with two home runs, a double and four RBI.

Faapito also made two solid appearances in the circle for the Aggies. She started NM State’s season-opener against Nebraska and worked 3.1 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on four hits. She also started against nationally-ranked Arkansas and threw 6 innings, striking out five.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

KANSAS CITY, MO - Beset by more bad news on the injury front when it learned in late Janaury leading scorer Trevelin Queen was to miss two weeks with a knee injury, the New Mexico State men's basketball team has done one thing on a consistent basis: pound the ball inside.

Because it's there that senior Ivan Aurrecoechea does his best work and over the last five games he has gone from a run-of-the-mill Spaniard to the WAC's most feared conquistador.

The Spaniard sparkled once again, matching his career with with 23 points, helped the Aggies build up a 16-point second half lead and NM State held off a hard charge by Kansas City in the game's final 3:10 to claim a 67-61 triumph over the Roos Saturday night in the Swinney Recreation Center.

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Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Aggies put up a thrilling fight against the nationally ranked Razorbacks, but it ended in heartbreak.

#20 Arkansas rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh, clipping NM State, 5-4, Saturday evening in front of a crowd of 994 at the Softball Complex.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Facing their second Power Five opponent in three days, the Aggies threw the first punch.

Back-to-back-to-back home runs in the second inning by freshman Ramsay Lopez, sophomore Casie Roberto and freshman Matalasi Faapito electrified the crowd, as the Aggies took a commanding 3-0 lead in the span of six pitches.

After Lopez and Roberto went back-to-back with no-doubters to left center, Faapito swung at the very first pitch she saw and also drilled one over the wall in left center.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Down two starters, the New Mexico State women’s basketball battled but fell to league-leading Kansas City 55-50 in Western Athletic Conference play at the Pan American Center on Saturday.

Aaliyah Prince scored 17 points to lead the Aggies for the second-straight game. Tayelin Grays also reached double-digits for the second-straight game, dropping 12 points on 50-percent shooting and flited with a double-double, grabbing a career-high nine boards.

The Aggie defense played well, holding Kansas City to sub-.400 shooting and coming up with seven steals on 11 forced turnovers. NM State outrebounded the Roos 46-31, the ninth time in the last 10 games that New Mexico State has had a positive rebound margin.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

CHICAGO, IL - On paper it looked like it would result in a blowout from start to finish.

Early on it didn't quite work out that way for the New Mexico State men's basketball team Thursday night in the Windy City. That is until one of Chicago's favorite sons - playing in front of nearly 100 family members who made the journey to the Jones Convocation Center - stepped to the forefront of the action to make sure no doubts remain on what team remained the favorites in the WAC.

Playing in his home town for the first time in his collegiate career, Evan Gilyard II sparked a 20-4 New Mexico State run over that last 7:24 of the opening half by scoring seven-straight points and the Aggies rode that surge to a 71-49 triumph over Chicago State.

A fifth-straight road victory helped the Aggies maintain a two-game lead for the top spot in the WAC standings.

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Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Four different Aggies scored at least 14 points and the New Mexico State women’s basketball team defeated Chicago State 80-56 in Western Athletic Conference play at the Pan American Center on Thursday night. NM State led the game for almost 38 minutes.

Tayelin Grays had a career night, scoring a career-high 15 points on 6-11 shooting from the floor in a season-high 27 minutes of action to lead the Aggies (8-14, 5-4 WAC). The sophomore from Dayton, Texas, sat out the first nine games of the season due to injury.

Graduate transfer Micayla Buckner also had a break-out game, dominating down low and scoring a season-high 14 points in just 15 minutes. Gia Pack and Aaliyah Prince each added 14 points while Pack recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. Pack moved into sixth place on the NM State all-time scoring list with 1,663 points.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Aggies wasted no time flexing their muscles.

NM State kicked off the Troy Cox Classic in impressive fashion, smacking three home runs and exploding for six runs in the fourth inning to cruise to an 11-6 season-opening win against Nebraska.

The win over the Huskers is the Aggies' eighth against a Power Five opponent dating back to the 2018 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Western Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year Nikki Butler got the party started in the bottom of the first inning. The senior catcher swung at the very first pitch of the season she saw, crushing the ball over the left-field tree line and into Presley Askew Field.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

PHOENIX, AZ - The New Mexico State women’s basketball team fell 60-49 to Grand Canyon in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon in a Western Athletic Conference matchup.

After the Lopes (11-8, 6-2 WAC) took a 6-4 lead, the Aggies (7-14, 4-4) went on a 10-2 run to take a 14-8 lead with 4:13 to play in the period. GCU then cut the lead to one but NM State finished the quarter strong and lead 18-15 after one. Soufia Inoussa scored seven points in the quarter.

The second quarter was back-and-forth with the Aggies unable to shake the Lopes. Then, right before the half, GCU banked in a desperation three at the halftime buzzer that cut the NM State lead to 31-30 and shifted the momentum. New Mexico State shot 46.4-percent from the field in the first half including 4-6 from deep.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - It's a well-known fact that the last time Grand Canyon stepped foot inside the Pan Am Center, it took a miracle for New Mexico State to get by their biggest WAC rivals.

The only thing miraculous about the latest showdown between the Aggies and Lopes on the was the fact that the former only won by 20.

Johnny McCants submitted the first double-double of his career by finishing with 17 points on a perfect 7-of-7 night from the field and grabbing 12 rebounds, Jabari Rice put in a game-high 18, and the Aggies continued their all-time dominance over Grand Canyon by blasting the Lopes, 72-52, in front of the second-largest crowd to ever witness a men's basketball game inside the Pan Am Center.

At no point throughout the rout did the Lopes present any sort of threat and bolstered 13,960 of their most voracious backers, the WAC leaders pushed their winning streak to 11 games.   Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - It's no secret that the NM State men's basketball team has made use of an exceptionally potent shooting touch to fuel its latest winning streak.

What hasn't exactly received as much press is the Aggies' defense - something that was as the center of them generating a 10th-consecutive win.

Clinging to a one-point lead with 1:35 to go, senior Shunn Buchanan came up with a game-changing steal on the defensive end to put the ball back in the Aggies hands, Ivan Aurrecoechea tied his career high with 23 points, Jabari Rice added 20 more and NM State survived for a gritty 61-57 victory over CSU Bakersfield Thursday night inside the Pan Am Center.

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