LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State University women’s basketball team is coming off an underwhelming 2023-24 season, in which they went 13-18 but managed to pull off a 63-58 upset win against Florida International University in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament.
They kicked off their new season with an 87-54 win over D2 opponent Cameron University in an exhibition game on Sunday, Oct. 27.
The Aggies struggled to finish games last season as 11 of their 18 losses were within nine points or less. Head Coach Jody Adams talked about these losses and has hope that her team will be more mature and finish games more efficiently this upcoming season.
This will be the Aggies second year in CUSA and they hope to raise the conference championship trophy, something they have not done since 2016.
In order to do that Coach Adams said she wants to implement consistency in the team. She said she not only wants her players to be consistent, but also wants her coaching staff and herself to be accountable. She said she wants her players to practice like winners and put themselves in positions to win by building good habits that they can fall back on in the game and be more comfortable in late-game situations.
“We want to make sure we’re practicing the habits of a winner,” Adams, who won a national championship as a player for Tennessee, said. “As someone who represents a university, we take that seriously, and we want our behavior to reflect that of a winner.”
Players to watch
The Aggies are led by fifth-year senior guard Molly Kaiser, who chose to stay at NMSU despite the fact of having the opportunity to play at a bigger school.
“Money is not something that drives me, I just love the game,” Kaiser said. “I started as a freshman with nothing, and I want to stay here.”
Kaiser surpassed 1,000 career points her senior season. When asked how she continually improves her scoring, the answer was simple. With age, Kaiser has gotten stronger, faster, quicker and prioritized rest a lot more.
Kaiser is coming off the best season of her collegiate career as she averaged 14.9 points per game while shooting just under 36% from three. She improved her game each year, especially her scoring. She said the improvement comes from all the challenging work she puts in during the offseason to come back better than before.
“Dedication and getting in the weight room has helped significantly on the court,” Kaiser said. “My three-point shooting has improved as well as my vision for my teammates.”
Kaiser’s hard work paid off as she was recently named to the Preseason All-Conference team.
Kaiser is also changing her jersey number from 0 to 7, which she explained was for multiple reasons.
“I’ve always liked the number seven because it represents who I am,” Kaiser said. “I moved to the United States from West Africa at seven years old and my dad passed away on November 7th, so I felt like it was meant to be.”
While Kaiser will be a player to watch in her final season with the Aggies, there are other key players to keep an eye on this season.
“Fanta Gassama is a player that joined us last season that I think will have a big impact for us this season,” Adams said. “Jaila Harding is a player that will improve and be great for us as well.”
Gassama was aggressive grabbing rebounds in her first year with the Aggies averaging 7.9 per game which led the team. She also posted a career-high 20 points and 17 rebounds in the quarterfinal game against FIU. She also shot 8-for-8 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Harding was one the Aggies best three-point shooters last season as she shot just under 36% from behind the arc. Harding also averaged 9.3 points per game, second behind Kaiser.
A challenging season
The Aggies have a challenging non-conference schedule as they face three teams who are currently ranked in the AP Top 25. The Aggies travel to Fort Meyers, Florida, to play the No. 4 Texas Longhorns on Friday, Nov. 29. They then travel to Manhattan, Kansas, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, to play the No. 13 Kansas State Wildcats.
Right before conference play begins, the Aggies will make a trip to Norman, Oklahoma, to play the No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners. Another team they face who is not ranked but will still be a good matchup is their rival, the University of New Mexico. They face each other in back-to-back games on Friday, Dec. 6, at the Pit in Albuquerque and Sunday, Dec. 8, at the Pan American Center.
During conference play, the Aggies will be playing twice a week against teams all over the country which is a challenge because of the travel they encounter.
“Basketball is hard; it’s not for everybody. When the hard times come, we truly fall back on our belief system. We believe in ourselves, we believe in our culture,” Adams said. “Are we repping winning, or are we repping losing? And we definitely want to be repping winning.”
Despite all the returners they have, the Aggies are picked to finish just sixth in the preseason CUSA poll. This is where they finished last season, but they will look to prove the doubters wrong.
“We want to get back to the semi-final game and win to make the Conference USA championship.” Kaiser said.
The Aggies will be seen battling it out on the court Monday, Nov. 4, at 6:30 p.m. as they take on the UC Irvine Anteaters on the road at Bren Events Center in Irvine, California, in their first regular season game
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