LAS CRUCES ? The New Mexico State women’s basketball team’s nine and a half game improvement from the 2006-07 season to the 2007-08 season tied for the fifth best turnaround in the nation, as the NCAA released the 2007-08 Division I Most Improved Women’s Basketball Teams list on Monday, Apr. 21.
Head coach Darin Spence was thrilled to hear the news and said that we all should be proud of this accomplishment, both the community and the school.
“Obviously it shows that all the hard work done over the past five years has paid off,” Spence said. “We were finally able to get the right players in here to lead us towards success. This recognition especially goes towards our players who fought through a lot of things this year, especially in the second semester.”
The Aggies won 10 more games in 2007-08 than they did the year before and lost nine fewer games. The 23 wins this season for NMSU tied for the third most victories in school history and the Aggies reached their third consecutive WAC Tournament championship game in the process. Doing so New Mexico State became one of just three teams in WAC Tournament history to appear in three-straight title games.
Both Cleveland State and Portland State tied with NMSU with a nine and a half game improvement. Winthrop was the nation’s most improved team in the nation with its 14 game improvement. Syracuse University was second at 12, Dayton came in third at 11.5 and Northeastern was fourth with a 10 game improvement.
Senior forward Sherell Neal, who became the third player in NMSU history to have over 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, was selected to the All-WAC First Team after averaging 14.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Fellow senior Anikia Jawara was selected to the All-WAC Second Team along with the WAC All-Tournament Team and freshman guard Madison Spence earned a spot on the conference’s all-freshman team.
The Aggies also set a record this year for most home victories in a single season, as their 16 wins in the Pan American Center surpassed the old record of 15 done in the 1987-88 season. Other season notables include going over the 300 win plateau in its home arena, winning 11 conference games which was the second most in school history and recording the 10th season in program history with 20 or more victories.
New Mexico State will continue to work hard this off season so they can build on the successes of this season. The Aggies are currently in the works of finalizing their 2008-09 schedule, as NMSU will enter its sixth season under Spence’s direction.