LAS CRUCES, NM - Southern Utah dropped a heartbreaker against New Mexico State, losing 64-63 on a putback layup inside the last five seconds. The Thunderbirds fall to 1-1, while the Aggies' win moves them to the same record.
Top T-Birds
- Senior Ava Uhrich finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, leading all Thunderbirds in both categories while shooting 6-15 from the field and 5-6 from the foul line.
- Bella Hasan finished the night with 11 points and went 7-9 from the charity stripe.
- Kortney Doman led the defensive effort with three steals and a block while scoring six points on offense, going 2-2 from deep.
Game Recap
First Half
Southern Utah jumped out to an early lead as Ava Uhrich's back-to-back three-pointers helped build an 8-1 advantage. The Aggies clawed back to a three-point deficit over the next five and a half minutes, but with the score at 13-10, the Thunderbirds went on a 6-0 run to close out the first quarter with a 19-10 lead.
Bella Hasan came into the second quarter with her eyes on the basket and drew two early fouls, hitting all five free-throw attempts to push the Southern Utah lead to 10 points at 24-14. Ava Uhrich took over the scoring load from there, scoring six of her nineteen points in the second quarter as halftime saw the Thunderbirds lead the game 37-31.
Second Half
The third quarter started out slowly with both teams combining for five missed shots before Brooklyn Fely opened the scoring with a gentle floater that got a friendly bounce off the rim and backboard to go in. The Aggies then went on an 8-2 run to cut the Southern Utah lead to 41-39 before the Thunderbirds responded with a 9-0 run of their own to take a 50-39 lead into the final period.
The fourth quarter began with another Aggies scoring run as New Mexico State scored the first nine points of the quarter to cut Southern Utah's lead to two. Then, after the Aggies tied it at 52 apiece with 6:25 left in the quarter, Emily Scholtes put the Thunderbirds back on top with a layup, and Ava Uhrich converted a critical and-one to make it 57-52.
The drama really ramped up in the last three minutes as Southern Utah led 58-56 and both teams turned up the defensive pressure, with neither squad scoring until New Mexico State tied the game at 58 all with 1:26 left to play. Denver Anderson immediately hit a clutch triple on Southern Utah's next trip down the court to push the lead back to 61-58, and then things got crazy.
After a pair of Aggie free throws cut Southern Utah's lead to one point with 18 seconds left, Southern Utah turned the ball over on its inbound play, but New Mexico State got too excited and ran the wrong way, scoring in the wrong basket to push the lead back to 63-60 with 13 seconds on the clock. The Aggies followed up with a quick layup to make it 63-62, and another turnover on the next inbound play gave the Aggies a chance to take the lead in the final 10 seconds. After an Aggie timeout, Southern Utah forced the initial miss, but couldn't secure the rebound as the Aggies got the second-chance layup with two seconds left on the clock. Denver Anderson's last-second jumper went wide right, and the game ended with a 64-63 Thunderbird loss.
Highlights
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