LAS CRUCES, N.M. — San Diego women's basketball rallied from a nine-point first-quarter deficit to beat New Mexico State 61-56 on Monday night at the Pan American Center, opening the 2026-27 season with its first road win under second-year head coach Blanche Alverson.
Kiera Pemberton, a senior forward who transferred from Baylor, scored 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting in her San Diego debut, and Kylie Ray added 19 for the Toreros (1-0, 0-0 WCC).
The win came in a familiar building for Alverson, who spent the 2016-17 season as an assistant on Mark Trakh's New Mexico State staff.
Ray opened the scoring with a 3-pointer off her own steal, but the Aggies answered with eight straight points and led 16-7 late in the first quarter.
Ray hit back-to-back jumpers and Pemberton converted a three-point play during a 7-0 run that tied it at 18 with 6:51 left in the second quarter, and Sammie Wagner's layup gave San Diego a 22-20 lead, its first since the opening minutes. The lead changed hands three more times, the last on a step-back 3-pointer with 1:03 left that sent New Mexico State into halftime ahead 28-26.
Pemberton's putback tied it at 28 on the first basket of the second half. After a 3-pointer put the Aggies up 35-30, Olivia Owens hit a 3 and Braelynn Barnett, a Georgetown transfer also making her San Diego debut, made two free throws to tie it. Barnett answered another Aggie basket with a 3-pointer off a Ray assist, giving the Toreros a 38-37 lead with 6:20 left in the third, and they never trailed again.
Pemberton's layup and 3-pointer pushed the lead to 45-41, and her layup off a NMSU offensive foul made it 51-43 with 1:18 left in the quarter, San Diego's largest lead. She made all five of her shots in the third for 11 points, and the Toreros scored 27 in the quarter to take a 53-48 lead into the fourth.
New Mexico State scored six straight points around the quarter break to pull within 53-52 with 8:43 left, then went more than six minutes without a point. Ray's layup off an Owens assist made it 55-52, and Pemberton stole the ball and scored on a fast break for a 57-52 lead with 3:30 left before blocking a jumper on the Aggies' next trip.
Pemberton answered a NMSU floater with a layup off an Eva Ruse assist for a 59-54 lead with 2:18 to go. A step-back jumper from New Mexico State cut it to 59-56 with 1:09 left, but the Aggies didn't score again. The Aggies traveled with 45 seconds left and missed a turnaround jumper with 12 seconds remaining, and Ray, who led the WCC in free-throw percentage last season, made two free throws with three seconds left to seal it.
Pemberton added seven rebounds, two steals and a block without a turnover in 32 minutes, and Ray made all six of her free throws to go with four rebounds and three assists. Ruse pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds, four on the offensive end.
San Diego made 16 of 20 free throws, held New Mexico State to 2-of-14 shooting from 3-point range and scored 18 points off the 20 turnovers it forced.
The Toreros have now won back-to-back meetings with the Aggies. Last season's 57-48 win at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Nov. 24, 2025, followed a similar script, with New Mexico State leading at halftime before San Diego took control in the third quarter.
UP NEXT
San Diego faces crosstown foe UC San Diego on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Pechanga Arena in the inaugural National University Bill Walton Classic, then opens its home schedule Tuesday, Nov. 10, against Portland State at 6 p.m. at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
