NM State Aggies vs GCU Lopes Women’s Basketball 2-12-17

The weather today still wasn’t as bad as forecast, at least until later in the day.  (It’s actually raining as I write this in the evening.)  I could have conceivably tried going to the softball game before going to the basketball game, but since I was going with Ron, I had to choose.  Just as well, during the radio broadcast, it was mentioned that the softball team lost 11-3.  I’m wondering who the third starter is for the team.  Anyway, after a great meal at Schlotzsky's (I even thanked the chef), we were at the Pan-Center. 

We sat opposite of the benches at mid-court.  I was a bit closer than previous games.  At first, it looked kind of sparse inside, but that was only because of the basketball game I saw last night between the men’s teams from these schools.  Grand Canyon doesn’t have a big arena, but they totally packed it and handed out white shirts to everyone.  For the Aggie guys, it was a close first half.  They built up a 10-point lead in the second, and then completely collapsed, giving up 19 straight points in a bad loss. 

In any case, it was a really good crowd for the women, announced at 1,741.  Many of the fans were little girls in cheerleader outfits.  They’d figure into the halftime show.  The Aggie players were in pink sweatshirts with pink headbands for the game for a low-key cancer awareness event, except for Brooke Salas.  She wasn’t wearing the headband.  Don’t know what that’s about.  It wouldn’t have looked good on her anyway.  The Sundancers were also in pink.  I pointed out Blanche Alverson and Ashley Ford, my Aggie assistant coach crushes, to Ron, as well as pointing out some of the other players.  Volleyball player, Kaylee Neal, was again on the Aggie bench, this time in a very nice skirt and blouse.  I’m still wondering why she’s there.            

Ron was worried right out of the gate.  He noted that the Aggie girls weren’t hitting anything in shoot-around, while the Grand Canyon girls were.  I had seen the Aggies play these girls via a Youtube broadcast, and they handled them pretty well on their home court.  The Lopes huddled up in an enthusiastic circle when their practice was over.  I could see Adam Young and Nolan Fox across the court with radio call standing for the anthem before the game.  Hey Adam!  Where were you yesterday when I needed your play-by-play for the softball?  I couldn’t score anything right.  We lost the radio call right before this game started.  I could see Adam furiously working with some cables before the broadcast came back.  Karma.  Actually Adam had some interesting comments during the game about the NCAA switching women’s basketball to four quarters, instead two halves.  Given today’s attendance, he also suggested that NMSU should schedule more Sunday games.       

In the first quarter, the Lopes did indeed come out shooting well, and the Aggies were flat.  The Aggie defense picked up eventually and the Lopes’ shooting cooled off a bit.  There were two great steals on inbounds passes by Brooke and Moriah (“Mo”) Mack that turned into points.  However, it was 18-21 GCU after 10 minutes.

Between quarters, Pistol Pete was working the crowd of little cheerleaders behind the north goal.  For the second quarter, the Aggie girls still weren’t shooting well and also started getting sloppy.  They were down as many as 10 in the quarter.  Coach Mark Trakh was groaning on the bench with his head in his hands after a couple of turnovers in a row.  The Aggie defense was still there though.  After stifling the Lopes on a long possession, the Brooke got a fast break down the court and dished a great pass to Brianna Freeman under the basket for a bucket.  By halftime, it was still an unpromising 28-37 Lopes. 

The GCU was shooting 45% for half and out-rebounding the Aggies.  Specifically, Marina Laramie was killing the Aggies with 16 points.  I remembered her from watching the Aggies playing the Lopes last month.  It’s easy to pick out a large 6’2” redhead on the court.  Coach Trakh had countered with his own 6’2” player, Tyler Ellis, off the bench against her.  Jessica Gajewski was also lighting it up for the Lopes with 10 points.  Brie Mobley had 11 with four coming from free throws.  Mo had 10 to lead the Aggies, with Tyler and Brianna chipping in six each.  The rest of the Aggies were pretty quiet in scoring.  Brooke in particular didn’t have her shooting touch. 

For halftime, the little girl cheerleaders came out and filled up the entire court.  They were the Razzle Dazzles.  A couple of the Sundancers were working with them from the sidelines.  After the performance, they mostly left, leaving a sizable hole in the crowd.  Meanwhile, I noticed and pointed out the little girl that Ron gets a kick out of seeing at various events playing ball on the sidelines.  She’s everywhere for the Aggies.

With the start of the third quarter, things started getting physical with the girls.  Adam and Nolan agreed that the refs were “letting them play.”  The light refereeing was not to the coach’s tastes however, as Coach Trakh and Blanche were both up in arms and screaming after one particular no-call.  The Aggies came out for this quarter in a high-pressure defense.  They were in a full-court press and trapping on every possession. 

If the set offense shooting wasn’t there for the Aggies, their defense was creating opportunities.  Mo was a steal machine and converting it points in this quarter.  Memorably on one particular play, Brooke got a block and tossed it down court.  The pass was intercepted, but Moriah picked the player’s pocket immediately and threw it to Tamara William for an open three.  The big D strategy worked.  Finally, the Aggies got the lead, 49-47 to end the quarter.             

If the third quarter was physical, the fourth was downright rough.  A person at work, who’s a big basketball fan, mentioned that he hated officiating girls’ games.  He said there’d be scratching and hair-pulling on court.  This was not that bad, but as I said to Ron at one point, “This is like a men’s game.”  The refs finally started calling physical fouls, but by now, the crowd wasn’t having any of this change of heart.  Brooke was called for a charge early on that got the fans all over the officials. 

Tyler Ellis completely sold out in this quarter and left everything out on the court.  There in the paint, she finished off a point after the team had gotten two rebounds on a possession and then on consecutive plays, she hit the deck, fighting for the ball at both ends of the court.  As the Aggies started to pull away, the Lopes went to their own pressure defense, but it was too late.  All they could do was do was put Brooke and Tamara, two of the best free throw shooters in the conference, on the line.  Our hard won final score was Aggies 67, Lopes 60.  The game was not without injury.  Zelor Massaaquoi went down late with a knee injury.  She got a nice round of applause when she came off, and when she attempted to come back out on court.  Thankfully, the coaches didn’t put her back in the game limping.                

Marina Laramie was the runaway high-scorer for the game with 26 for the Lopes.  The Aggies never really stopped her, even double-teaming her for most of the second half, but did slow her down.  Moreover, they did shutdown everyone else.  Okay, I miscounted somewhere on the Lopes’ scoring.  I thought I was doing such a good job today too.  Damn it.  Scoring all the bench points, Tyler Ellis, is our Aggie player of the game.  Not only did she anchor the Aggie defense in the middle, Tyler’s emotions on court after making plays fired up the crowd and the team.  Let’s hear it for shooting free throws too.  Brooke and Tamara essentially iced the game with 10 points from the charity stripe in the 4^th.      

Okay, forget all this.  The play of the game occurred in the stands late in the fourth, with game more or less in hand.  There in the band section, several members were holding up signs which collectively read, “Brooke stole my (heart symbol)” and an arrow pointing at a trumpet player at the end of the line.  After the game and with a good deal of jazzing from her teammates, Brooke received a bouquet from her erstwhile suitor.  She even got her picture taken with him by the official Aggie game photographer.  Frankly, I’m doubting this young man was actually her boyfriend (nor is he likely going to be), but for that well-coordinated, nuts-up play, he has my and the crowd’s admiration.