LAS CRUCES -- California Baptist pushed the Western Athletic Conference favorite NM State Aggies to the limit on the road in its league opener. It took a last-second shot for NM State to overcome the Lancers, 57-56, in the Pan Am Center in Las Cruces on Thursday.
Defense kept CBU in the game until the very last second. The Lancers held New Mexico State to just 29.2 percent (21-for-72) shooting and 23.5 from three (4-17) on the night and limited the leading scorer in the WAC, Gia Pack, to just seven points.
Tiena Afu tallied her third double-double of the season with 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting and 13 rebounds. Olaeta matched Afu with 11 points and added six assists and three steals.
The Lancers fought back from a 53-46 deficit with five minutes left in regulation on Thursday to take a 56-55 lead in the final minute. CBU went on a 10-2 run, thanks to three points at the free-throw line from
Georgia Dale and a big three-pointer from Afu after Olaeta shook her defender to the hardwood.
Delacy Brown was the other Lancer to score double-digits, dropping 10 on the Aggies and pacing the Lancers early.
Dale got it done on both ends of the court, as she scored eight points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and a huge charge.
The Aggies used 10 second-chance points and shot 84.6 percent from the free-throw line (11-13) to scratch out the win. Pack scored the game-winning layup with just 1.5 seconds left on the clock.
The Lancers maintain an 8-7 overall and 0-1 conference record, as they travel to Edinburg to take on the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to close out this opening road trip in conference. The Vaqueros are 5-8 on the season, with their upcoming battle against CBU opening their WAC season.
