By james art 
IRVINE, Calif. (KVIA) — The 234-day offseason is over. The list is finalised. Practices, media days and expectations are a thing of the past. On Monday, the NM State Women’s Basketball Tournament will begin its 51stSt season in program history by Golden State. The Aggies will face UC Irvine at the end of a home streak that began last December. The Anteaters are coming off a 23-win campaign that ended with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. NM State is looking to avenge last year’s loss and start 1-0 for the first time since 2021-22.
HOW TO FOLLOW
WHO: NM State (0-0, 0-0 CUSA) at UC Irvine (0-0, 0-0 Big West)
where: Bren Events Center – Irvine, CA.
When: Monday, November 4, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: SIDEARM (UC Irvine)
All-time streak record: NM State leads 17-12
Last meeting: UC Irvine 61 at NM State 55 (December 5, 2023)
LAST TIME OUT
Last Sunday, NM State hosted Cameron for its only exhibition of the season. The Crimson & White easily prevailed by a score of 87-54 on the back of a balanced offensive effort. All 13 Aggies who entered the game scored, while nine sank multiple field goals. Lucia Yenez was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, tallying nine points, three rebounds and an assist in less than seven minutes. As a team, NM State knocked down 23 of 27 free throw attempts (85.2%), posting more success from the charity stripe than any contest last season.
2023-24 MATCHUP SUMMARY
These two teams faced each other last season, meeting on December 5, 2023 at the Pan American Center. Poor shooting by the home team was compounded by foul trouble throughout nearly the entire backcourt. Molly Kaiser led the way for the Aggies with 15 points, but the home team mustered just 19 conversions on 61 field goal attempts. Still, Jody Adams’ defensive-minded side kept every quarter a contested battle. NM State held the lead with just over three minutes remaining, but the Anteaters cruised to a six-point victory, 61-55.
UC Irvine is one of four 2023-24 non-conference opponents the Aggies will face again this season. UTSA, New Mexico and Western NM are in this year’s rankings ahead of CUSA after facing the Aggies in their previous campaign.
VETERAN LEADERSHIP
The Aggies are led by 11 upperclassmen, including nine seniors. Molly Kaiser and Diarrah Sissoko are each in their fifth season of varsity basketball, leading a 15-man roster that has 50 combined seasons of experience, including 32 at NM State. Four Aggies are in at least their third season with the program: Molly Kaiser (five), Silena Peterson (four), Ciani Sanchez-Oliver (four) and Lucia Yenez (three).
GUESS WHO’S BACK… AGAIN
There are two notable absences in the paint, as Honorable Mention All-CUSA selection Ene Adams joins 6-foot-5 Femme Sikuzani Masudi as the two key departures from last year. However, almost every guard and wing rotation will return to action in 2024-25, with 75.66% of 2023-24 point production. still listed. Additionally, the returning Aggies accounted for 85.14% of all assists and 97.71% of three-pointers (128-of-131) a season ago.
ONE LAST CAUTION
This iteration of the Aggies revolves around five-year Aggie legend Molly Kaiser. The Watauga, Texas, native exercised her extra year of eligibility earned by the NCAA’s response to COVID-19, choosing to spend her fifth and final campaign with the Crimson & White. In 2023-24, Kaiser leads the Aggies in games played (31), games started (31), points (463), points per game (14.9), minutes per game (34.2), field goals made ( 165), free throws made (107) and free throw percentage (86.3).
Last season, Kaiser drove and buried a patented elbow shot to give her 1,000 career points, each bucket coming as a member of the Crimson & White. She turned 25th member of the 1,000-point club and the first since Gia Pack to play for the Aggies from 2016-2020.
INTERNATIONAL AGGIES
There are seven Aggies with international experience on the 2024-25 roster. Four of those seven are from Spain (Fanta Gassama, Noah Garcia, Marta Guilera, Lucia Jenez). Hungary (Anna Csenyi), Netherlands (Loes Rozing) and Mali (Diarrah Sissoko) are also represented in this year’s squad. Four of six Aggie newcomers are from overseas, rounding out a roster that is 46.7 percent international.
43 of the Aggies’ 87 points in their exhibition win came thanks to international members. Those seven student-athletes racked up 20-of-32 rebounds (62.5%) and 15-of-28 field goals (53.6%). Loes Rozing and Fanta Gassama returned to the starting line-up in a similar fashion as the regular first five at the end of 2023-24.
INTELLIGENCE OF ANT-EATERS
UC Irvine is led by eighth-year head coach Tamara Inoue, who touts a 140-106 record in her time with the program. Last season, the Anteaters finished 23-9 overall with a 16-4 mark in Big West play. Inouye was an assistant coach on the Aggie bench from 2011-16, winning two WAC regular season titles and as many WAC Tournament championships. Inoue and then-head coach Mark Trakh led the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament in 2014-15 and 2015-16, winning all four WAC titles in the two-year span.
Déja Lee led the team in scoring last season, averaging 13.9 points per night. The senior recorded seven points, two rebounds and a pair of steals against NM State. Shirel Nahum led the Anteaters in scoring tonight, recording 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting to go along with his three rebounds.