Aggies rally from nine down in 4th to win
Mack ignores cut, ignites late charge
OREM, Utah — In their quest to maintain an undefeated conference record and reach their 20th win overall, the New Mexico State women’s basketball team certainly seemed to hit a wall Saturday.
The Aggies trailed by nine entering the final quarter at Utah Valley University. Even after quickly shaving that deficit to one in the first three minutes of the fourth, NMSU subsequently missed out on several opportunities to grab the lead.
Utah Valley then scored four points and the Aggies trailed by five with 2:23 remaining.
Final score: New Mexico State 59, Utah Valley 53.
The NMSU full-court press and the huge play from junior guard Moriah Mack down the stretch were the critical components in a stunning turnaround that kept the Aggies’ Western Athletic Conference record perfect.
“We should have lost this game, but the press — the kids stepped up — and Moriah said ‘We’re not going to lose this game,’ ” said elated New Mexico State coach Mark Trakh. “You’ve got to win games like this on the road if you want to be champion — a game you’re not supposed to win when everything’s going against you.”
Entering the fourth period, Mack had six points.
On the same court where Trakh sat her down on the bench two years ago due to “immaturity,” according to Mack, the Aggie guard tallied nine points in the final stanza to finish with 15.
With the visitors trailing by five, Mack scored a bucket to make the score 51-48. Mack, after a turnover, then put back her own miss with 1:36 left to trim the lead to one.
With Utah Valley (11-13, 4-5) now in full fluster, another turnover led to an open Mack look on the baseline. The San Antonio, Texas, product canned the 3-pointer as NMSU went up 53-51 with 1:06 on the clock.
Somewhere in the flurry, Mack was scratched and still had an open wound under her right eye in a postgame interview.
“I don’t know what happened. I just knew I started bleeding. I could feel it,” Mack said. “We wanted this game. I have to give my props to Utah Valley. They played hard, and they gave us a run for our money. It was a great game, but we wanted to get the 20th win for coach Trakh.”
New Mexico State (20-3, 9-0) also got 15 points from Sasha Weber, who hit a pair of key buckets — including a 3-pointer —at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Utah Valley was paced by senior post Sam Loggins, who had a gamehigh 20.
“They cranked up the pres- sure when they were down and you have to do that in order to multiply possessions,” Utah Valley coach Cathy Nixon said. “We got out of our minds a little bit, handed them the ball, and they went and scored off of it.”
At the end, with NMSU holding a two-point edge, junior Tamera William cleanly stroked a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left for a 55-51 Aggies lead.
“A lot of heart, a lot of determination,” Trakh said. “These are tough, tough kids.”