Las Cruces, New Mexico - The Thunderbird women's basketball team played their first of three games in the state of New Mexico Tuesday night, as they fell to New Mexico State 74–60.

On Friday and Saturday the Lady T-Birds will take part of the New Mexico Tournament.  

The Thunderbirds came out firing, jumping out to an 8–1 early in the first quarter. The Aggies started warming up offensively, but the T-Birds held a 17–11 advantage after the first.  

“We really came out focused,” SUU head coach Chris Boettcher said. “Hit a couple shots early, which relaxed the team.”

SUU continued to hold the lead for the majority of the second quarter, but the Aggies were able to take the lead with 1:48 left to play in the quarter and were able to increase it to eight by the end of the first half.

NMSU held the lead for the entirety of the third quarter, but the Thunderbirds were able to cut into it throughout cutting it to as low as two and one point, but the Aggies held strong to take an eight point advantage into the fourth.

Midway through the fourth quarter NMSU extended their lead to 16 and didn't look back, eventually taking the contest 74–60.

Jessica Richardson led the team in scoring and rebounding with 21 points and nine rebounds. Jamie Smith had a big game for the T-Birds as well dropping in 18 points. The Thunderbirds shot 37 percent from the field, but had 22 turnovers.

Boettcher said Smith showed on Tuesday what they've been waiting to see from her all season.

“Tonight she finally did what we know she can do and that's hit shots,” he said. “She's a very confident shooter with deep range and was really important tonight against their zone and their press, we knew that they would overload one side of the defense and that if we could reverse the ball to her that she'd have open shots.”

Shanice Davis and Tyler Ellis both finished with 14 points for NMSU. Tamera Williams led the team in rebounding with 13.