I have way too much too write about before even getting to
the game itself. First, I could have
gone to the team’s pre-season booster banquet last week. I was at the university for volleyball that afternoon. The tickets would have
been free, thanks to my workplace, but I was real uncertain about showing up by
myself. I also wasn’t sure about the
dress code, which turned out to be formal-ish.
A team Twitter pic showed the girls in some lovely gowns (and one in
men’s wear, hmm). Lastly, since this was
before their first game, I didn’t know who all of them were or what to talk
about. Do this again mid-season, I might
have some conversation. (Although, I
guess the point of the dinner was to get-to-know the new players.)
The Saturday before the game, I listened to a UTEP Miners Women’s Basketball game on
the radio. I knew that KROD broadcasts
them, but I’d never heard one before.
(In all honesty, I had nothing better to do or watch that afternoon.) Steve
Kaplowitz did the play-by-play. He
does a good job with Sports Talk and
when he’s done Chihuahuas’ games in
some capacity. Here, he was a little
shaky. I wonder if Tim Hagerty usually does these games and was unavailable. His color commentator was Tracy Miller, a former player. She was very knowledgeable, but needs a bit
more work on her delivery.
I was interested in the game mostly because they were
unexpectedly playing an Aggie WAC conference foe, CSU-Bakersfield. The Roadrunners aren’t a cupcake team to
start your season with, especially with Miners breaking in a new coach (whose
name I didn’t catch, because I didn’t really care). I could chock up my listening as scouting the
opposition. I wonder if new Aggie coach Brooke Atkinson or a staff member was
there at the game in El Paso doing the same.
The Roadrunners were introduced on-court to the Imperial March from Star Wars. I’m not sure if you want the opposing team to
seem more menacing before a game.
Five minutes into the game, the Roadrunners had not scored,
and the Miners were up by about 4. I hope my game tomorrow is better than this,
I thought to myself. UTEP was leading by
10 at one point in the first half, but Bakersfield came roaring back and were
actually leading by halftime. Okay, this game got interesting. The Roadrunners were doing it with good
outside shooting and rebounding. By the
end of the third, the Roadrunners were up by 8.
A whole new Miner team showed up for the fourth quarter. They rallied and the Roadrunners panicked and
went cold. 67-56 UTEP was the final score.
Wow, I can only hope that Sunday’s
game is this good.
Certainly the game was a bit weird with such wild
swings. I’m not sure what to make of
either squad after this game. The teams
at this point in the season are trying to figure themselves out more than the
opposition. Jasmine Johnson was high scorer for the Roadrunners, with Asia Williams being a sparkplug off the
bench for them. Tamara Satea and Jordan
Alexander were the standouts for the Miners. (Too bad Sparkle
Taylor isn’t still playing for them.
I would have loved to have heard that name called out all game
long.) The officiating was questionable
throughout. Travelling was called on a
player without the ball even. The Refs
need to get into game shape too.
I thought I heard Kappy say there were 426 in
attendance. For the game, it was so loud
and raucous, it sounded like the announcers were calling it either sitting in
the student section or on the bench with players’. The coach afterward thanked the fans for their
madhouse support in that fourth quarter.
I didn’t get the whole story, but a former Miner women’s basketball
player had died during the week. Her
mother talked to the team before the game, which was the same day as the
funeral. It’s hard to say how that
affected the players, but that’s pretty hardcore.
Sunday, I entered the Pan-Am
Center to sound of the Roadrunner
Review band and the cheerleaders
and the Sundancers performing. That combination gives you the big time feel
for the game. In an unprecedented move,
the cheerleaders and Sundancers worked the floor in a coordinated fashion. (I’m still doubting these guys like each
other.) The band and the spirit squads
made a lot of noise throughout the game.
The crowd was kind of thin.
Last year, broadcaster Adam Young
had suggested that the team should schedule more Sunday afternoon games. Maybe later in the season when that fall
fraud sport finishes its “season” of kneeling, the un-Americans who watch it
will be more available. I was wearing my
new “3 Pete” shirt, and I saw a few
others in the crowd, including on the old man.
I think a couple of Aggie men’s basketball players were there, but I
didn’t see any other Aggie players. (I
listen to the men’s games over the radio, so I don’t readily recognize
them.) Speaking of broadcasting, there
was no radio call. They were doing an Aggievision TV broadcast instead. I was annoyed, and my commentary will likely
suffer without the expert help.
New Coach Brooke
Atkinson walked by the scorer’s table and fist-bumped several people,
including the PA. Her assistant coaches
and staff consisted of several well-dressed men and women. None of them are Blanche Alverson and Ashley
Ford, so my viewing enjoyment was reduced.
Blanche at least joined Coach
Mark Trakh at USC. Sweetheart player, Brandee Walton, also went with him.
I guess I can finally say now that when I spoke to her at the ballpark
earlier in the year (4-22-17), she’d told me that he’d asked her to go
with him. She’d had a heavy heart, as
she had post-graduation plans at NMSU, but this was a great opportunity, so she
hadn’t been sure what to do. Good luck,
Brandee.
I will mention one member of the current basketball
staff. She looks just the lady staff
member on the volleyball team. About the
same build, same hairstyle, same highlighted hair color, SAME WARDROBE, but it
wasn’t her. The uncanny valley
resemblance is a strange mystery. I only
mentioned her once, but the volleyball woman was driving me crazy all season sitting
on the sidelines. If I had the
opportunity, was going to ask Adam about her, since she would stand right in
front of him watching practice while he was doing his pre-game, which would
have distracted me from broadcasting.
This is all I’m going to say about this.
Like the last game last season (2-18-17), the lights
dimmed and video boards showed the team in the tunnel doing a war dance before
coming out on court. The new intro video
featured a song I hadn’t heard before, but worked well. The video listed the team’s home record and
their “Back to Back to Back” conference championships. The highlight reel featured Gia Pack in about half the clips. During Western
Michigan’s starter introductions, the band would make a noise and hide
behind their sheet music. The Aggie
girls looked happy and upbeat for their introductions. Jasmine
Cooper ran over and fist-bumped with referees. I’m sure they had no idea what to make of that. (And, I have to mention one more thing. The female referee in the crew was very trim
and attractive.)
First Quarter
Once again, I was keeping a scorecard. Watching the game, scoring points, and taking
notes was tough, but I was pleased I was able to keep up after several months
off. (Hey, I only got one player’s
points wrong, but corrected it in-game, and only miss-added the totals
once.)
One buzz about the Aggies this season was a pair of
transfers, Monique and Dominique Mills. They are related, identical twins even, and
very pretty. They wore their hair in the
different styles, so you could tell them apart.
Monique, who I will refer to as “Mo,” started and played much of the
game, but Dominique (we’ll work on a nickname) was out on the floor with her at
times.
I don’t know anything about the Western Michigan Broncos.
Are they from the Upper Peninsula?
Are there wild horses in Michigan to name the team after? Western Michigan brought 17 players with
them. The Aggies only had 14. However, I think both teams only played 8
(that’s a maybe).
During the first quarter I figured out they were not a
creampuff opponent. The Broncos were
rebounding well and had some good outside shooting. For the Aggies, Gia Pack seemed to be
dribbling well. That was something she
didn’t look good at last season. Jasmine
Cooper (“Coop”) had a great poke and steal.
Brooke Salas had one of her
good underhand shots driving to the basket.
Coach Atkinson doesn’t yell as much Coach Trakh on the
sidelines. Watching Trakh’s theatrics
was worth part of your admission. On
that note, stress balls were tossed into the crowd by the cheerleaders. I’d already gotten one (11-4-17).
though I didn’t realize what it was for. This was the only giveaway during the
game. 15-18 Broncos after one.
Second Quarter
The Aggies’ outside shooting was terrible here, but some
great rebounding kept them in it. Gia
had the play of the quarter. She got a
steal under the Bronco basket, did a behind-the-back pass, got the ball back,
and laid it in. Bravo. One thing I noticed in this quarter that held
true for the game: the Broncos could not make two free throws in a row. 27-31 Broncos, still very tight.
Halftime
There was a fan basketball shooting contest with about eight
people. A little girl made it to the
final, but lost to a cheerleader guy.
Coach, get that girl to commit now.
Third Quarter
This was an eventful quarter. For the first time, I saw the Coach upset, I
think over missing a rebound. Mo got
hammered once driving the lane, so the game was getting more physical. One trip down court for the Aggies seemed to
epitomize their shooting today. They got
in two three-point attempts and at least two shots under the basket without
scoring. The whole exchange ended with a
tug-of-war in the lane and a tie-up that went to the Aggies. Kudos for the rebounding at least. Brooke had picked up another foul and had to
come out early. She was on the bench
cheering on the three-point attempts.
During the timeout, the band played The
Pina Coloda Song, which had got me giggling. That’s definitely not a fight song. They were also playing Hooked on a Feeling. I was
watching Guardians of the Galaxy
later in the evening (on a Mexican station in Spanish, I hope to see the whole
movie in English someday), and I wondered if that was where they were getting
their playlist. Things weren’t happy for
the Aggies at this point though; they were down by 11.
During a fight under the Bronco basket for the ball, all the
tall players started jumping and tipping the ball. Aggie Freshman, Pam Wilmore, got in the last tip for the ball and got it. She was the shortest player on the court at
the time. This may have sparked the
team. Brooke finally hitting a three
definitely did. Mo got a rebound and
went coast-to-coast for a layup. The
Broncos fouled and put the Aggies in double bonus. Gia put in two free throws. Mo got a steal and was fouled on a breakaway
and got two more free throws. The
Broncos finally got a bucket, but Brooke got a block and converted two more foul
shots.
Jeneva Toilolo came
in. I’d been told she looked good and
trim in practice, and that was how she looked here too. She made a drive into the lane and was
hit. The fans were in an uproar, when it
wasn’t called a shooting foul. That was
okay. She got it back and put it in to
tie the score, 45-45, right before the buzzer.
The fans were into it. Pistol Pete, who I hadn’t seen much of
in the game, came by cheering. There was
a little boy in front of me, who might have been related to a player, who was
cheering just like an adult fan. It was
great.
Fourth Quarter
Jeneva scored the first two baskets of the fourth to give
the Aggies a four-point lead. Timeout
Broncos. And then the wheels came off
for the Aggies. Marley Hill for Western Michigan started making shots, including a
good-looking hook shot in the lane. Here’s where last season, Tamera William would be all over the opposition, forcing turnovers,
and then someone would step up and start hitting shots. Here and now, the Aggies went stone cold
shooting. That four-point lead became a
12-point deficit.
It got ugly. Real
ugly. By last two minutes, things had
gotten quiet, except for Broncos’ fans cheering. Even the band stopped playing. Fans began deserting towards the exits. According to last year’s schedule on the back
of the program, the team had one loss at home.
That was to Arizona and that was even in overtime. (I was there, 12-4-16.) The fans could barely remember what to do at
a loss in person. The Aggies’ last shot
was an air-ball three by Brooke. Final
score: Aggies 55, Broncos 64.
Our easy MVP for the game was Marley Hill with 20 points and mostly clutch ones in the
fourth. For the Aggies, Brooke Salas led with 15 points. However, given the number of shots she took,
that wasn’t a good total. She did do
well on defense and rebounding. Jeneva Toilolo was second in points
with 10 off the bench and a real bright spot for the team. The Aggies also rebounded and shot free
throws well in general. Their shooting
overall was atrocious. They weren’t just
missing; they were taking bad-looking shots.
What was up with Gia Pack? Her main role last season was shooting
three’s, and I’m not even sure she tried one today. Who’s the team captain? I can’t tell.
I’m not hitting the panic button yet. I’m still not sure how good a team they were
playing. Since I’m on vacation, I plan
on going to their Tuesday night game.
Hopefully, this game will buoy my confidence and the girls’. This has been a weird weekend. This game fit right in with everything else.
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