Aggies Win Despite Wrong-Basket Blunder

In a stunning turn of events at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces on Friday, New Mexico State senior guard Emma Christiano inadvertently scored on her own basket with 20 seconds remaining, momentarily costing the Aggies a one-point lead. However, the team rallied to defeat Southern Utah 63-62, securing their first victory of the season.

The sequence began when freshman forward Stacey Chavino tipped away an inbounds pass from the Thunderbirds, giving NMSU possession while trailing 61-60. Christiano chased down the loose ball and drove in for what appeared to be an easy layup—but she deposited it into the wrong hoop, giving Southern Utah a 63-60 advantage instead of putting the Aggies ahead.

The miscue even confused the ESPN+ broadcast team. Play-by-play announcer Adam Young initially called it as if New Mexico State had taken the lead, until analyst Anita Maxwell Skipper corrected him. "Wrong basket. Wrong basket," Skipper said during the broadcast, according to TMZ.com. Young acknowledged the play caught him off guard as well.

ESPN's official play-by-play log struggled to categorize the play, recording it as a "team makes 81-foot-shot" and crediting the points to Southern Utah without attributing them to any individual player.

Chavino refused to let the mistake define the outcome. The freshman scored a layup with nine seconds left to pull NMSU back within one, then after a defensive stop, she nailed a jumper with 1.4 seconds remaining to seal the win for the Aggies.

Christiano was not the only player to commit such an error on Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Northwestern State's Karma Wynn also scored on her own basket in a 30-point loss to Arkansas.

For New Mexico State, the wrong-way basket ultimately led to the right result—a hard-fought, last-second victory that will be remembered for its bizarre twist and Chavino's clutch performance.