Sports Editor

What looked to be an upset for the CSU Bakersfield women’s basketball team the Roadrunners poor fourth quarter performance was the difference in the 67-59 loss on Thursday against New Mexico State University in the Icardo Center.
“I thought we competed for 40 minutes,” said CSUB head coach Greg McCall. “I thought we played hard. We made some crucial turnovers towards the end of the game. We ended up having two maybe three possessions where we didn’t get a shot off and those are the possessions that hurt.”
The Aggies (22-3, 11-0 Western Athletic Conference) scored 26 points as a team in the fourth quarter led by junior guard Moriah Mack who had 12 of her 20 points in the game in the fourth.
The Roadrunners (8-18, 5-6 WAC) struggled shooting in the fourth quarter converting on just five of their 15 shots from the field for 33.3 percent.
“(McCall) has been talking about fighting and playing for 40 minutes and I feel like as a team we played 38 minutes,” said redshirt-junior guard Erika Williams. “That last two minutes kind of killed us, but we’re going to get over that hump by the time we need to.”
Williams led the Roadrunners in scoring on the night with 17 points, six rebounds and two blocks.
CSUB senior forward Batabe Zempare recorded her twenty-ninth career double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds, her most rebounds in a game since Nov. 22 against San Jose State University where she had 22 rebounds.
“We came out and it was easy,” said Williams. “Going into the locker room we were like okay lets keep fighting and we cooled off going into the third quarter. We cooled off a lot. We got to stop digging ourselves in holes where he have to fight back.”
The Roadrunners are holding onto the fifth spot in the WAC standings going into the final stretch of the season and the WAC tournament
CSUB will play the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley next on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Icardo Center.