Poor Early Shooting Dooms Shaw Against New Mexico State Sherri Fillingham 1/01/12 [Los Cruces, NM] - Shaw struggled to find a shooting stroke in the first half, then saw a strong attempt at a comeback fall short as they fell to Division I New Mexico State 61-53 in a game played at the Pan American Center. The Lady Bears shot only six for 29 - an anemic 20.7 percent - in the first half, including going zero for 11 from beyond the three-point line. In the second, Shaw improved to 43.3 percent from the floor. New Mexico State kept Shaw in the game with their own shooting woes, hitting only 26.9 percent in the first before improving to 47.6 percent in the second. The Aggies also won the battle of the boards, outrebounding the Lady Bears 51-31. But the Lady Bears performed well on defense, forcing 28 NMSU turnovers and scoring 20 points off those turnovers. It was defense and an inside game on offense that turned around the game late in the second half for the Lady Bears. On the game, the Lady Bears outscored the Aggies 22-12 in the paint. Shaw actually had the lead very early in the game, when Aslea Williams converted one of two free throws to give the Lady Bears a 3-2 lead. New Mexico State then ran off 11 unanswered points to take a lead that they never relinquished. With 6:50 left in the first half, Chrissy Fletcher hit a jumper to give the Aggies a 19-7 lead. Kyria Buford then scored four unanswered points to cut the deficit to only eight. Three minutes later, Brittany Ransom hit a layup that trimmed the NMSU lead to seven. The Aggies scored four straight and eventually took a four-point lead into the locker room at the half. New Mexico State ran off six straight to open the second half and push the lead to 33-17. After Crystal Harris hit a layup for the Lady Bears, the Aggies ran off another seven straight to build their lead to 21 with 14:40 left in the game. They would build the lead to 22 with 12:31 left in the game. With 10:13 showing on the clock, Sequoyah Griffin hit a pair of free throws that opened a seven-point scoring run for the Lady Bears. With 8:51 left, Buford sank a layup off a fast break to make the score 45-32 in favor of the Aggies. NMSU rallied, rebuilding the lead to 18, but the Lady Bears rolled off six straight and outscored the Aggies 17-7 to trim the lead to 59-51 on Griffin's layup with 1:16 left in the game. The Lady Bears then resorted to fouling in order to stop the clock and wound up losing by the 61-53 margin. Williams had a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds. Buford led Shaw with 12 points and Griffin had 11. Griffin led the Lady Bears with four assists. Tabytha Wampler had a double-double of her own for the Aggies, scoring 15 and pulling in 11 rebounds. Kaitlyn Soto led NMSU with 17 points and Jasmine Rutledge added another 13. Rutledge had four assists to pace her squad. Shaw returns home on January 7 when they take on Virginia State in a 2:00 p.m. tip. That afternoon is "Take a Kid to the Game" and children are admitted free with a paid adult admission.