No. 8 Walters State sees season end in NJCAA DI Women’s Basketball Elite Eight

LAKE CHARLES, LA – No. 8 Walters State's impressive season came to an end on Saturday morning, falling 65-56 to No. 16 New Mexico Junior College in the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Elite Eight.

With the loss, the Lady Senators closed the season at 28-3. All three losses came against teams that made the NJCAA DI Tournament. Walters State went a perfect 20-0 in TCCAA play, won the TCCAA Regular Season Championship and the TCCAA/Region 7 Tournament Championship. 

Nyjah Gibbs led the way for Walters State in the game with 14 points and eight rebounds. Gibbs finished the season averaging 16.5 points per game and 8.5 rebounds. For her two-year Walters State career, Gibbs scored 741 points and grabbed 504 rebounds. 

Along with Gibbs on Saturday, Terryauna Griffin scored 12 points. Griffin ended her Walters State career as the all-time leading scorer, finishing with 1,182 points over two years. Griffin's 657 points during the 2025-26 season rank her at the top at Walters State for points in a season. 

Other contributors for Walters State on Saturday were Malon Smith with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals, Raegan Starks with 10 points and 11 rebounds, Malia Wilcox with three points, four rebounds and three steals, Anaya Mulholland-Natt with three points and Paradise Fisher with two points. 

As a team, Walters State was 11-12 from the free-throw line and forced 17 turnovers. 

New Mexico scored the first five points of the game, but Starks got Walters State on the board and Mulholland-Natt followed with a three to tie the game. New Mexico scored the next four points, but Griffin scored four straight after. New Mexico briefly took the lead back, but Griffin hit a three, Starks scored and Gibbs scored to make it 16-11. New Mexico hit a three at the buzzer, but the Lady Senators led 16-14 after one. 

In the second, New Mexico scored the first six points to grab the lead back. Smith scored and Wilcox drilled a triple to give Walters State a 21-20 advantage, and the two teams went back-and-forth over the final six minutes of the half. During the back-and-forth, Griffin hit another three, while Starks hit two free throws and Gibbs scored to make it 29-28 with 1:50 left. However, New Mexico scored the final four points of the half and led 32-29 at the break. 

In the third, Gibbs scored four points in the first three minutes to keep things close. New Mexico continued to try and pull away, but Smith scored, Starks scored and Fisher scored to keep the Lady Senators around. The New Mexico lead was 48-39 later, but Smith hit a triple that made it 48-42 heading to the fourth. 

In the fourth, the Lady Senators came out on fire. Gibbs got things going with two free throws, and Griffin scored 30 seconds later to cut the lead to two. A minute later, Smith tied the game at 48, and Gibbs gave Walters State the lead on a layup with 7:52 left. New Mexico scored the next four points to get the lead back, but Gibbs tied things at 52 with two free throws with 3:29 left.

Unfortunately for Walters State, New Mexico scored 13 of the final 17 points to take the win.