New Mexico State Aggies vs Western NM Mustangs Women’s Basketball 12-31-16

I have to start this with a reconsideration of the previous game I attended.  After writing and posting my blog, I read the newspaper account of the game.  I was struck by Coach Trakh’s generous and effusive comments about the team after the loss.  Was this the same guy I saw screaming on the sidelines?  His quotes, though, did sound pretty genuine.  At that point, I had a thought about the game: maybe Brooke Salas didn’t have a bad game so much as perhaps Arizona might have keyed their defense on her.  It would have made sense for them to have done so.  “Make sure the high-scoring blonde doesn’t get an open look.  If the other girls beat us, so be it.”  I don’t know the game well enough to say if this theory is correct or not.  If I’d thought of this before posting, I would have put it in.  In any case, I feel like I might owe Brooke an apology.  Sorry. 

Okay, back to business.  This was my last Aggie game of the year.  If it wouldn’t be such a pain in the butt to do so, I’d count how many events I’ve been to this year to see if I qualify as a booster.  Let’s just say, I’ve frequented the university frequently over the last 12 months.  I only major team sport I’ve missed is the men’s basketball.  I’d meant to go to a game last week while I was on vacation.  My boss was too sick to go, and I didn’t feel comfortable going by myself at night.  I only missed Santa Claus, Pistol Pete reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to a bunch of kids at half time on court, and a thrilling overtime victory (part of an 11-game winning streak).  So, I didn’t miss much and didn’t feel really stupid afterward.  These things happen and hopefully we learn something from them.

Today was a different matter.  I was at work very late for yearend processing on Friday, during which time my future employment at the business was called into doubt by a pending outsourcing deal.  Saturday was cold and rainy and my boss had again backed out of going.  However, I’d been looking forward to going to this game.  While on vacation, I’d listened to the girls team get beat three times at a tournament in Las Vegas.  Two games were close and the last one was a blowout, and they were all hard to take, even though they lost to some good teams.  I wanted to see a win. 

Further, I wanted to wear my new “Back to Back WAC Champions” women’s basketball t-shirt from Aggie sponsor, Sports Accessories.  The ads worked and I patronized them.  They have nice store for NMSU and local high school gear.  The shirt was actually $1 on the clearance table, but still relevant, and I picked up an Aggie Empire shirt, which I look forward to wearing at another time.  I also wanted wear my new hat, even though this was an indoor event.  It’s a red hunting camo hat with NM State on the front from Beyond Custom (formerly Mr. Hats) at the mall.  I’m embarrassed to mention that this custom embroidered hat actually cost less than the two other Aggie hats I’ve purchased.  Given the cold, I wanted a hat on.  Given the rain, I ended up using an umbrella outside to protect my new hat. 

I picked up a hot chocolate and a churro at the concessions.  The cinnamon and sugar didn’t quite get all over everything, but almost.  I only spilled hot chocolate on my scorecard once and somehow managed to splash it on face too.  At the courtesy table, I picked up another poster, as seen above.  Still no Brooke poster though.  I also picked up a men’s program leftover from Friday night’s win over the UTEP Miners.  If I get to a men’s game, I may have a couple of things to discuss from looking that over.

I was almost terrified that I’d be the only fan there while I was driving over, but thankfully there were plenty of people there for a New Years Eve game, in spite of the weather, holiday, football bowl games, the girls being on a three-game losing streak, and playing a Division II opponent.  (Rats!  I thought maybe the team might come over to thank me personally if I was the only one there.)  Adam Young on the radio call described the crowd as “medium.”  I’ll put it at over 3,000.  The regular fans were likely all there (I’m not putting myself in that group at this point).  They were mostly senior citizens and likely other boosters.  There were maybe a handful of students as the school was on Christmas break.  Western NM (Silver City?) actually had a decent and enthusiastic cheering section for them behind their bench.     

During the warm up, I failed to notice that one of my favorites, Tamara William, wasn’t playing, but certainly noticed when the game started.  Her hair had also gone from red back to dark with highlights.  I missed the pre-game show and never got an explanation in-game as to why she wasn’t playing, other than the coach wanted to rest her.  Ironically during the game, they were using a nice picture of her on the video boards to promote the Aggies’ next game.  Well, at least the Aggie assistant coaches, Ashley Ford and Blanche Alverson, were there and lovely.  Blanche looked really nice, like she had somewhere to go after the game.  As the game went on, I got the impression, everyone involved had somewhere to go right afterward. 

Until I saw the starters on the court, I didn’t realize that Western NM only had 8 players.  Not only were they a Division II school, at 4-7, they weren’t even a good one.  In fact, this game was only an exhibition for their team.  It didn’t even count for their record.  During the Aggies’ starters’ intro, the Mustangs weren’t watching, but were huddled up with their coach on court for final instructions and encouragement.  For NMSU for New Years Eve, apparently there weren’t a lot of scheduling options.  After what was going to be a rough tournament, win or lose, the girls were going to need some light competition to keep warm before starting conference play. 

As I predicted before given the speed of the game, I could either keep a scorecard or keep notes, but not both.  I picked the scorecard, so the notes are going to be sparse, but then again, it wasn’t much of a contest.  The regular Pan-Am announcer was there for the game.  (I really need to get this guy’s name.)  He asked the crowd to remain standing after the tip off until the opposing team scored.  After four minutes off the clock, we were still standing.  Thankfully, that was when the game had its first timeout and everyone took a seat.  The Western NM Mustangs didn’t score their first points until six minutes into the game (that’s game clock time, not actual time, and those points may have been on free throws if I recall).  After ten minutes, the score was 27-6, Aggies.  My first quarter highlight was Pistol Pete coming by and giving by and giving me a high-five. 

The first break between quarters featured a fan on court trying to make a free throw for Harlem Globetrotters tickets.  But wait, he had to make it facing away from the basket!  The guy had the reverse granny shot working and actually made the first one, more or less defeating the drama.  He wasn’t close on any of the other superfluous shots, but that was still very impressive. 

In the second quarter, I actually saw Brooke laugh and smile on court (not during play, of course).  That should give you a good idea of how the game was going.  The Aggies were dominating on shooting, steals, blocks, and rebounds.  They had a full court press going for most of the game on defense, though the game was played up tempo for most of this quarter.  The Aggie subs played much of the quarter.  After a player got a second foul on court, Tonishia Childress jumped up to check in.  She was grabbed by hand by an assistant coach and directed to sit back down.  Help was not needed.  Gia Pack (still loving that name) scored 12 in the half, including two three-pointers.  Moriah Mack (“Mo” as Adam liked to call her) wasn’t far behind with 11.       

Several good shots for the Mustangs just didn’t fall in, making the score look even worse for them.  Not to be patronizing, I’m sure that Western NM practiced as hard as the Aggies, and they certainly played as hard.  This was just a difference in level of play and talent.  WNM has scheduled other Division I teams this season, so they wanted this competition, much like the Aggies at the tournament last week.  43-14 Aggies at the half. 

The one time I didn’t need to go to the bathroom for halftime and all that was going on on court was a disorganized free throw contest with the fans.  During the game, the usual Flex-Cam and Dance-Cam spots were done during breaks, but were very quickly shut down.  I think only reason they were doing them was because they were sponsored.  Overall, the game seemed to be being played at a quickened pace in terms of stoppages.  The refs were not slowing anything down either. 

First half stats went up on the video boards: 4-10 turnovers, 10-1 assists, 27-16 rebounds, all in favor of the Aggies.  While the teams were warming up, Ashley Ford went over to the press table and gave somebody there a knockout smile.  I shivered.  Oh, to be on the receiving end of that. 

For the 3^rd quarter, the starters began the frame, but quickly gave way to the subs.  However, the starters were still totally into it, cheering on their teammates.  Sara Lopez seemed to get a lot of the love, as she scored five points, including a three-pointer.  Sara’s a walk-on player from El Paso, as Adam explained during the game, so she’s the closest thing to a hometown player for the Aggies.  Coach Trakh took her aside to talk to her on court for some instruction during stoppages, so he wanted her to do well.  The refs did miss shot clock reset that got the bench up in arms.  Jade Botelho on the Mustangs probably got the team’s only highlight, as she emphatically slapped a block on an Aggie layup.  64-20 Aggies after three quarters.  

For the all but perfunctory 4^th quarter, the starters came out for another four minutes before coming out.  The coach was still out there coaching.  As one girl came out for a foul, you could hear Coach Trakh over the radio mic talking to her.  “That’s on you, not her.”  The Mustangs went on a bit of run at one point, which got a cheer out of their section, though it seemed like there were more people than that cheering for them.  (I almost felt like cheering for them a little.)  Other than that, the crowd had something of a low energy level for the whole game (probably me included).  Our final, Aggies 85, Mustangs 28.

After the game, Sara Lopez went into the stands and got hugs from what was presumably her family.  Brooke and Tamera were also talking with some people in the stands behind the bench.  There was a group of fans holding up poster signs of the girls during the game.  They may be some sort of boosters.  Tamera was there long after the rest of the team had left the court.  If I’d seen somebody else getting her autograph, I would have run down there myself.  The best fan moment came before the game ended.  A little girl and her parents were leaving.  Before going, she ran over and gave another little girl with her parents a hug, the way kids do.  It was precious.

Gia Pack for the Aggies had a career game with 22 points and four three-pointers.  Mo was next with 15.  Most of the starters had limited time.  All 11 girls who were eligible to play scored.  According to the radio, the Aggies were +15 in rebounds and turnovers, not to mention +57 in scoring.  This was the best outcome for the team in that they not only won a game they should have, they did so definitively.  We hope this means that, while not successful at the tournament, they really learned something there, just in time for conference play. 

For the Mustangs, their point guard Jordan Gutierrez lead the group with 11 points.  She also had a pair of eye-catching yellow shoes, only outdone by teammate Lucy Benning’s, purple shoes.  I’m thinking these girls may have learned something from the Aggies when they get back to their regular opponents too.  They certainly played hard.            

I’d like to say this game win improved my mood, but it didn’t.  (I was psyched later when my scorecard added up correctly.  I don’t know if I could have counted rebounds and turnovers even if there was space on the scorecard for them.)  I almost feel like they should have discounted the tickets for this game, given the level of the opponent.  Outside, the sun was finally out and the clouds cleared away.  I drove out of the parking lot behind a girl wearing a tiara.  I’m thinking it was a cheerleader.  For the moment, work questions have me wondering if I should be spending money on entertainment, but I have a feeling I’ll be back to watch some more.