Mistakes happen in sports, but two women’s college basketball players each scored for the opposing team on Friday.
New Mexico State’s Emma Christiano scored a layup for Southern Utah once in a 64–63 home win. Northwestern State’s Karma Wynn also had a layup blunder, scoring for Arkansas in an 89–59 loss to the Razorbacks.
While Wynn’s came early in a blowout loss, Christiano’s occurred with the game on the line. New Mexico State trailed Southern Utah 61–60 with less than 20 seconds remaining when Christiano stole an inbounds pass and took the ball to the wrong basket.
Christiano buried her face in her hands when she realized what she did. The Aggies fell behind 63–60 instead of grabbing the lead.
Stacy Chovino didn’t let that deter her team, scoring the Aggies’ final two baskets in the last 10 seconds. The freshman forward from France saved her team from losing on a rather unusual mistake in front of more than 1,000 elementary students during a midday game at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces.
A Paris native, Chovino scored 25 points, including the go-ahead basket in the final seconds, to give the Aggies their first win of the season after a season-opening loss to San Diego on Nov. 2.
Christiano had played four minutes in the game, and she had a rebound and a steal. Because her basket counted for Southern Utah, it wasn’t attributed to her statistically.
A 5-foot-3 senior guard from Las Cruces, Christiano joined the Aggies last year after two seasons with New Mexico Highlands, a Division II program. She appeared in 30 games for the Aggies last season, and she averaged 2.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.7 assists in 23.4 minutes per game.
For Christiano, playing for the Aggies had been a childhood dream since age four, growing up in Las Cruces. While she didn’t get an offer after her prep career at Las Cruces High School, she worked her way toward New Mexico State with her Division II stint.
Christiano still has the rest of her senior season with the Aggies, which gives her plenty of opportunities to not let her wrong basket define it. Likewise for Wynn, the 5-foot-4 Northwestern State junior guard has plenty of basketball ahead to define her season beyond one moment.
A Birmingham, Alabama, native, Wynn had six points on 2-4 shooting, four rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes. She previously played for Tulane and Wallace State Community College before transferring to Northwestern State.
Wynn’s basket came during the first quarter when her team trailed the Razorbacks 16–12. She took a pass in the backcourt and went the wrong direction, scoring on behalf of Arkansas.
Wynn put her hand on her forehead, looking up in reaction to her mishap. That said, she went right back to work bringing up the ball but missed a shot for her team on that possession.
Christiano and Wynn aren’t the first players to score on the wrong basket.
Erik Reynolds II did it last year in the NBA Summer League. Playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Brooklyn Nets on July 10, 2025, Reynolds recovered a jump ball and put it in the wrong basket, giving the Nets two points.
