Ooh, aren’t they glamorous? Today’s game was “Twins Day” to celebrate the
senior Mills twins, Dominique and
Monique. Twins would get free
admission for the game. I doubt the
university took a bath on gate revenue. PA Ed gave out several twins facts
during the game. I had the radio call in
my ear, so I never clearly heard any of them.
“Taste this and see if it’s okay.” These are not the words you want to hear from
a concession vendor, but at least they were thoughtful. Thankfully, my raspberry tea was fine. Before the game, I was watching a Women’s
Basketball game in the Patriot League on
Stadium. There was a crowd shot of a group of tweener
girls in the bleachers sharing a full pizza out of a box. I got jealous. “Why can’t we have that?" Ron, who was with me, chuckled when I told
him about it.
At least I looked good in my new crimson and white
sweater. I’d gotten it for Christmas and
I’d been saving it for game wear. I had
my Aggie button on it to make it official.
On court, the first thing I noticed was a UTRGV player with blue hair, #23 Makaela Mosley. #15 Nichele Hyman also stood out being
black, but with spectacular blonde hair.
As usual, the opponents also had a good-looking blonde assistant
coach. Is there any way of meeting anybody
on visiting teams (especially certain Brazilian volleyball players or certain
softball catchers [Actually, I did sort of meet Basia Query. I should have
taken better advantage of that.])?
On the Aggie side, Stabresa
McDaniel was again not in the game. Assistant Coach McAdams (very
well-spoken I might add) didn’t mention her at all on the Aggie Coaches Show this week.
He did ask host Adam Young if
he had any ideas on how to keep Brooke
Salas out of foul trouble. They’ve
tried to impress upon her that she adds no value to the team sitting on the
bench. Adenike Aderinto was back for today’s game and saw some limited
action. Kaeli Atkinson was a surprise starter.
It could be worse with injuries. I missed a Lady Miners game this week that was played at 9:00am. They talked about the game later on Sportstalk. The team only had six players who were able
to play. The rest of them
overslept. (Just kidding.) Needless to say, they lost.
It was a good crowd today. It had some energy to it. There were plenty of kids, some were girls on
various high school and middle school basketball teams. There was an Aggie Women’s team in attendance
for the first half, but neither Ron nor myself could identify which team. Swim
and Dive? Some of the Volleyball girls were present. They got put on camera once and they started
laughing at the attention. The Roadrunner Review Band was playing a recent pop song when I came in, but I couldn’t
identify before it ended.
First Quarter
I was off by one point in my original scoring. This game was intense enough to where I was
definitely questioning why I was scoring and note taking. In the third quarter, I was ready to give up
so I could watch and enjoy the game and not miss anything. Certainly it was hard to cheer along with
writing and watching. I didn’t even talk
to Ron for most of the game.
[I’m writing this under some extreme duress, by the
way. Some guy outside is working on his
car and playing his radio full blast outside my window. Gangster rap? No.
It’s an oldies station. I’m
hearing, “IF YOU LIKE PINA COLOTAS! AND
GETTING CAUGHT IN THE RAIN!” I want to
go outside and confront this guy. “Sir,
perhaps you’d like to examine your life choices that brought you to this very
embarrassing moment.”]
This game could not have started off better for the
Aggies. Usually, you get singular good
plays to note. The first quarter started
off with a string of them, thus causing me to scramble. I’ll try to recount it here. Brooke began the game with a steal. Kalei got fouled on the fast break and
converted a free throw. There was
another Aggie steal, which resulted in Dominique getting a layup. Brooke got another steal and a layup. At 5-0 Aggies, UTRGV took a timeout.
Right out of the break, Brooke got another steal. No points came of it, but she did pick up a
foul. Next exchange, Monique got a
steal. Gia Pack would be fouled and
convert on the shots. The Mills sisters
ganged up on a Vaquero player at halfcourt and forced a turnover. Brooke got another steal. D took a header in the goal padding after a collision
with a Vaquero trying to stop the fast break.
Dominique was okay, though her tightly pulled red hair let loose a
strand that gave her this messy, sexy look for the rest of the game.
Next, UTRGV turned it over on a travel. (There were a bunch of those calls in the
game. They’re like double touches in
volleyball. Some refs call it more than
others.) Next time down, the Vaqueros
lost the ball on a pass under the basket.
By this point, the Aggies were putting their subs in. Tayelin
Grays would hit a three. With three
minutes left in the quarter, #34 Megan
Johnson hit a basket for UTRGV’s first points. It was 12-2 Aggies.
“Finally!” murmured one of the Cheerleaders as she stormed by in front of us. The Cheerleaders had been standing in aisles
for about 15 minutes waiting for the opposing team to score. Most of the crowd had sat down during the
timeout. Me and a couple of other guys
were still standing. (Yes, that made it
harder to take notes.) I’ll be
honest. Perhaps this is a tradition that
needs to be rethought.
That was seven minutes of awesome defense. From here, the game proceeded a bit more
normally. Mo got in a collision at
halfcourt going for a steal. She was
knocked to the floor, but was okay afterward.
Gia and Brooke went out before the end of the quarter. Of note for the Vaqueros, #4 Idil Turk hit a pair of three’s to get
them back into the game. It was 16-8
Aggies after ten minutes.
Second Quarter
Brooke picked up her second foul early and stayed out
for the rest of the half. Other Aggies
picked up the slack. Mo got a
steal. Gia went on a run with two threes
and another basket. “Gia for
three-a!” Okay, there’s a call that
needs to be squashed immediately. You
know who you are. Timeout UTRGV at 26-11
Aggies.
However, the Aggies were fouling at a prodigious
rate. With six minutes left, the
Vaqueros were already in the bonus. The
Band started doing a new tomahawk chop yell during opposing free throws and got
plenty of practice. The Vaqueros had
whittled it down from a 15-point lead to an eight-point one. D finally got a basket to end a three-minute scoring
drought. It was 34-26 Aggies at the
half.
Halftime
The Cheerleaders rolled out some mats on the floor. Two little girls gymnastics teams
performed. I think they were winners
from the cheer competition last week.
Before halftime, Pistol Pete
came around and interacted with some kids.
It was cute. A father and his
little daughter sat in front of us for a bit right before the buzzer. They were really into the game. That was also cute.
Third Quarter
Hold on to your hollycocks here. It’s about to get real. Gia had her pocket picked, which led to a
layup and the lead was down to six.
Kalei picked up her fourth foul.
Gia was called for a charge, which was her third foul. The lead was down to three. The UTRGV bench was fully into it. Five minutes in and the Aggies had already
put them in the bonus. Timeout.
For Twin Day, there was a three-legged race during the
break. It was two band guys versus two
middle school girl basketball players. The
guys tripped and fell. One tried to drag
the other along anyway. The girls won
easy. The guys seemed okay with it.
The Vaqueros were fouling a bunch too. The Aggies got into the bonus a minute
later. Brooke collided with a bigger
player in the lane. They had a staredown
for a moment and I thought there was about to be fight. Tayelin got a layup after a steal. D got a full court layup and a foul
shot. The lead, which had been down to
two, went back up to six.
Brooke was called for her third foul. I admit I didn’t see it, but the rest of the
crowd was up in arms. Ron said it
shouldn’t have been called. Adam on the
radio had also questioned a call earlier.
This crew may have been a bit shaky, though there were so many fouls in
this quarter, it must have been hard to call.
Brooke stayed in. Pam Wilmore got a steal under the
basket and an assist to Brooke, who finished the play with a layup. 49-44 Aggies.
I was winded and I was just watching and writing.
Fourth Quarter
Dino Dash! I was
afraid they’d canceled the event, but they’d just moved it to later in the game
to keep the crowd around longer.
(Actually, I have no idea why.)
Ah, watching people in dinosaur suits tripping and shoving each other
never gets old. In spite of a fairly
static format, the conflict always seems to result in a unique combat
performance.
The fouling continued.
D went right to the nail and hit a free throw for her sixteenth
point. A lone voice on the UTRGV bench
started yelling, “Miss it!” during Aggie free throws. It was somewhat obnoxious. I never identified the player. I noticed she wasn’t doing it during Brooke’s
free throws.
Gia was back in and firing. She had a pair of three’s and with five
minutes left, and the lead was back to ten.
Brooke then hit a pull up three from downtown to make it 62-49. The crowd roared. Unfortunately, she then picked up her fourth
foul with four minutes left. Idil Turk,
not a big player, had driven the lane and went right at her. It was a heady play. Brooke wasn’t able to be aggressive defense
after this.
#5 Jameka Dowell
fouled out on a Gia basket, which gave her a three-point play. The Mills sisters ran square into each other
on court. It was a bit an indicator that
both teams were exhausted from the furious play. Nichele Hyman had run in a couple of
layups. Turk was feeling it again with
another three and a steal and a layup.
It was a six-point lead with 40 seconds left. UTRGV started intentionally fouling. The Aggies weren’t making all of them, but
made enough to increase the lead. Dominique
finished the game with a steal. She just
missed a layup at the buzzer, but was all smiles afterward. 71-63
Aggies is your final.
Sharpshooter Idil
Turk was as advertised to lead UTRGV with 19 points and four
three-pointers. Madison Northcutt had 12. Nichele Hyman was also clutch for them
with 10 points, six in the fourth quarter.
Gia Pack, today’s high-scorer
with 22, ran into the crowd after to see her parents, who were at the
game. I’m sure they were proud. Her parents also got pictures and hugs with
the Mills sisters as they went by. (I’m
available for hugs too ladies.) Dominique Mills had a career-high game
with 19 points. Brooke Salas had her usual greatness with a double-double, 19
points and 11 rebounds.
I’m not sure how many steals the Aggies ended up with,
but UTRGV had 25 turnovers, way more than their average. They did however beat the Aggies in rebounds
going +11. I think our take-away from
the game is that with Brooke, Gia, and D on the court, this team pretty
good. Foul trouble may be the only thing
holding them back.
After the game and dinner, Ron and I went back to my
apartment to watch a movie. I’d told Ron
last weekend that, while I’d seen the entire Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis series,
I’d never seen the original movie. (I
did see some of the Universe series,
not a fan.) Ron felt that needed to be
corrected immediately. I enjoyed it, not
that you need a review of a 30-year-old movie (or however old it is).
However, I basically missed the Aggie Men playing the Vaqueros
on the road. I heard about the last five
minutes (game time) on the radio. It was
a very exciting part to listen to though.
The Aggies had a three-point lead with 38 seconds left. Ivan
Aurrecoechea got a dunk, but was injured on the play and had to come
out. His status was unresolved after the
game. It doesn’t look good.
AJ
Harris hit a free throw to make it a four-point lead. The Vaqueros answered with a three to make it
a one-point game with 20 seconds left. Jabari Rice was fouled and hit one free
throw, but UTRGV immediately tied the game on a layup. Eli
Chuha came right back with a layup to give the Aggies back the lead. There was time for a last second shot, but Shunn Buchanan stole the ball to end
it. 63-61
Aggies and a sweep over UTRGV today.
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