Senior Writer
After three CSU Bakersfield women’s basketball players received suspensions from the Western Athletic Conference on Monday, the Roadrunners look ahead to take on a tough New Mexico State University team on Thursday at 5 p.m. in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
CSUB sophomore guard Alexxus Gilbert, sophomore forward Jerice Fears and redshirt-junior forward Tylinn Carter received suspensions for their involvement of the altercation in the 74-59 win against Grand Canyon University on Feb. 4.
Gilbert received a two-game suspension for punching a GCU player, while Fears and Carter were given a one-game suspension.
“It’s something that happened, don’t really want to talk a lot about it,” said CSUB head coach Greg McCall. “It’s something that we’re not proud of. We were glad about getting the win. We’re happy about that part of it. It’s something that’s behind us now and that’s where I want to keep it.”
CSUB (10-11, 5-2 WAC) will look to their bench players to step up against NMSU (16-6, 8-0 WAC) as their starting point guard, Gilbert, will not be available on Thursday.
Freshman guard Dalis Jones will fill the starting point guard position for the Roadrunners.
“Next person up,” said McCall. “Dalis will do a good job. It’s not like she’s been sitting on the bench like a backup quarterback where she doesn’t get any reps. She’s been getting just as much playing time as Alexxus has been. So she’s well prepared.”
Jones is averaging 2.2 points per game and one assist per game compared to Gilbert’s five points per game and 1.9 assists per game. What stands out about Jones’s stats is her 22 steals, which is tied for second most on the team.
“That’s just like people being without some of their main components to help make your team [the way it is].” said CSUB redshirt-senior guard Erika Williams. “We don’t have our starting point guard, so we have other people who can step up and get the job done.”
Erika Williams is CSUB’s leading scorer as she is averaging 11.9 points per game and has the second highest three-point field goal percentage with 42.2 percent.
NMSU is on a nine-game win streak and have not lost a conference game this season. With a short-handed roster, this will be the Roadrunners toughest test of the season.
In their first game against NMSU, the Aggies pulled out the win 64-55 on Jan. 14 in the Icardo Center.
“The first time we played [NMSU], we shouldn’t have lost that game,” said junior forward Aja Williams. “I think we’re much better as far as our offense. We’ve made adjustments and we’re ready for that game.”
Aja Williams had some impressive scoring outputs early in the season and is looking to step up for CSUB as they are short three players.
Aja Williams said that she is still capable of having high scoring games like she did during the first four games of the season.
