“We’re really excited about the upcoming season,” Aggie head coach Mark Trakh said. “We’re excited about the direction of our program and I think we’ll be very competitive this year.”
Aggie juniors Sasha Weber and Abby Scott are part of the All-WAC preseason teams. Weber was honored as a first team All-WAC member in both polls while Scott was placed on the second team All-WAC list in both polls.
Weber is coming off a sophomore campaign in which she started all 31 games for NM State, leading all starters with a .429 field goal percentage and a .370 three-point percentage. She finished the season averaging 13.7 points/game, 5.5 rebounds/game and 2.8 assists/game.
“I expect a lot from Sasha, I expect her to be a team leader,” Trakh said. “She’s going to play the 1-4 positions for us so she’s going to have to be very versatile. I want to see her ice the game when the game is close, that’s what a great player does.”
Scott, meanwhile, also played in all 31 games as a sophomore, starting in 20 of those games. She finished with a .351 field goal percentage and shot over 30 percent from 3-point range while averaging 10.8 points/game and 3.0 rebounds/game.
Scott had a career night versus Chicago State last season when she scored 36 points and broke the school and WAC record for most 3-pointers in a game, finishing with 11 total makes from beyond the arc. She finished one 3-pointer short of tying the NCAA record, which still stands at 12.
"Abby's never met a shot she didn't like," Trakh said. "She's a great kid and works hard, one of the hardest workers I've ever had."
The conference’s eight coaches, who could not vote for their own team or player, selected Bakersfield as the top team in the WAC. The Roadrunners received six first-place votes and a total of 48 points. Texas-Pan American was picked second by the coaches with one first-place vote and a total of 35 points.
Seattle was third (33 points) followed by Utah Valley (32 points), which received the last first-place vote, the Aggies, Grand Canyon (22 points), Kansas City (18 points) and Chicago State (7 points).
Bakersfield was also atop the media poll, followed by Seattle, the Aggies and Broncs, Grand Canyon, Kansas City, Utah Valley and Chicago State.
Roadrunner senior guard Tyonna Outland was selected as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year by both the coaches and the media.
Joining Weber and Outland on the first team All-WAC team are Shawnte’ Goff (Texas-Pan American), Rhaiah Spooner-Knight (Utah Valley) and Batabe Zempare (Bakersfield).
NM State begins its 2014-15 season in less than a month as they travel south to El Paso, Texas, to face I-10 rival UTEP on Friday, Nov. 14, inside the Don Haskins Center.