LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Sam Houston Bearkats could not overcome an 11-point halftime deficit on Thursday night, falling 72-59 to New Mexico State at the Pan Am Center.
Damaya Telemaque put in 16 points, leading three Kats (5-11, 0-5 WAC) in double figures on the night. Sam Houston finished 14-for-17 at the foul line, but was just 1-for-7 from beyond the arc and was dominated by the Aggies (6-8, 2-2 WAC) off the bench as the NMSU reserves outscored SHSU's bench by a 52-10 margin.
Faith Cook used a 7-for-8 night at the stripe to aid her 14 points and
Courtney Cleveland added 11. Meanwhile,
Madelyn Batista finished with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
Sam Houston found itself down 38-27 at the half, but came out swinging in the second half, outscoring the Aggies 16-6 in the first half of the third period to draw back to within a point at 44-43. But NMSU held the Kats without a field goal for the final 4:29 of the quarter and went on a 13-4 run in that span to still manage to take a double-digit lead into the final stanza.
The game kicked off a tough stretch of three road games in just five days with a contest at Grand Canyon on Saturday and another game at UTRGV on Monday in Edinburg.
