NM State Aggies vs UC-Riverside Highlanders Women’s Basketball 11-7-19

It’s not the same without Brooke Salas and the Mills twins.  I knew that going into tonight’s season opener for Aggie Women’s Basketball versus UC-Riverside.  Between missing their playing abilities and their looks, this season’s team was going to have a new appearance and some big shoes to fill.  I’d already heard Athletic Director Mario Moccia lamenting losing Brooke on the Aggie Coaches Show this week.  She’s playing with a professional team in Spain right now.  I think she’s doing well.  If can find player stats on the team website, let me know.  Monique and Dominque’s defense will be missed.  They also brought some outright glamour to the team. 

I’d not had a great day waiting to go to this evening’s game.  Out-of-town visitor, Ginny, would be coming with me and Ron again.  Ron had left me hanging a bit as to whether we were going to get dinner before or not.  I kept holding off on eating lunch because I was otherwise going to go to the mall to try Subway’s new Garlic Cheesy bread.  I ended up not eating and not doing anything all day while waiting.  Luckily, we all went out for dinner at McAlister’s.  Ron ordered the largest sandwich on the menu.  It was about 5” tall.  I was probably hungry enough to have eaten one myself.

When we got to the Pan-Am Center, we were greeted by the Roadrunner Review Band.  They were doing their usual pregame march around the concourse singing the Aggie fight song.  It’s good to have the live band for the game.  They were playing a very quick, up tempo version of the fight song tonight.  The Sundancers were also there.  They were practicing in a corner of the court.  There was one group of Cheerleaders down on the floor.  Another group was in the stands in uniform watching.  They’d come into perform later.

UCR was warming up out on court.  The Aggies played them last year (12-28-18) and lost a one-point heartbreaker.  Credit to Coach Atkinson for scheduling a tough game right off the bat.  From listening to the radio call, they’d lost one of their star players in their first game, a loss to the UNM Lobos.  (They’re playing UTEP right after this game to complete a southwestern tour.)  They’d also lost their coach, I guess right before the season started.  One of their assistants was the current interim head coach.  The whole team was wearing some really cool-looking sky blue shoes.

The Aggies came on court coming down through the stands.  They were not wearing the turquoise throwbacks, but rather in their normal white and crimson uniforms.  PA Ed missed them arriving and didn’t introduce them.  Big things were expected of star Gia Pack and from Aaliyah Prince this season.  My pick to have a good year, Kalei Atkinson, came on to the court on crutches.  She’s already done for the year with an ACL injury.  She at least had a great smile going.   Tayelin Grays was also injured for tonight, but should be back in the near future. 

Aissatou Fall is no longer on the team.  I guess the experiment of trying to teach the very tall foreign exchange student how to play basketball for the first time at the DI level was over.  Pam Wilmore was also not on the team.  She might have been a point guard this year.

The team has picked up some new players and almost new.  Nana Sule and Rodrea “Didi” Echols were over their injuries from last year.  Nana was wearing a leg brace.  She looked a little gimpy at times.  Graduate student Micayla Buckner was recruited as a big middle player.  There were two announced recruits from Sweden on the team.  Watching practice, how to put this delicately, I only saw one white girl out there.  Sure enough, Soufia (pronounced “Sofia”) Inoussa was black.  I’m sure she has an interesting lifestory.  She was starting tonight even though she’s a freshman.  Soufia had impressed Coach Atkinson before the season. 

On that subject, we start our Coach’s Fashion segment.  Coach Atkinson was wearing tight shiny black leather pants.  I saw a violin player practicing in the tunnel.  Once again, we all got to hear a great rendition of the Anthem by Christine Mitchell.  It was delicate, but stirring.  The player totals from the Men’s game on Tuesday were still up on the board.  They tried to fix it, but couldn’t get it working tonight.  Timing, timeouts, and the score were working okay.  A new WAC Championship banner was hung, along with an NCAA appearance banner.  The team intro video was very well-produced.  I was impressed. 

Lastly, I’ll list the crowd as being okay, but less than volleyball.  There weren’t a lot of kids present.  Last year’s full stats were on the back of tonight’s program.  Of the game attendances listed, the Aggie ladies only played in front of four-digit crowds twice last season.  (The WAC tournament games were all listed at zero.  Given they were usually playing multiple games back-to-back, they likely only counted the Men’s games.  I’m sure there was at least 1,000 there for the Women’s championship.)  There were 6,500 at their NCAA appearance at Iowa State.  Then there were 5,300 for their game in Albuquerque against the Lobos.  All the other games were in the hundreds.  What are they doing there at UNM to promote Women’s Basketball so well there?       

First Quarter

I’m out of practice keeping a scorecard and notes during a basketball game.  I think for the first time, I got a scorecard to add up on the first try.  I’m not even double checking it; I’m just going to take a victory lap.  My note taking took a while to get going.  They’re a bit scattered for the first three quarters, but I think they came out better in the fourth.

Myself and a few others were standing until the first opponent basket at the beginning of the game.  Ron and Ginny, who’d had a busy day, declined.  I think the Highlanders scored on about their third trip down.  Nana had the first good Aggie play that I noted as she made a steal, but there was a turnover right after.  UCR had two turnovers on travel calls early on.  Gia grabbed a good rebound on a miss. 

Marina Ewodo on UCR stood out early with a pair of close in baskets.  She was pretty.  She was tall and slim with great highlighted hair pulled back in a braid.  The Aggies were tight and had a couple of bad pass turnovers.  Coach Atkinson subbed in four and only left Gia in with them. 

Marina put in another basket, but Gia answered with a three.  Another steal led to a Gia layup.  UCR had a couple of turnovers, but the Aggies couldn’t convert on them.  Coach Atkinson was stomping and screaming on defense on one possession.  The other new Swedish player, Amanda Soderqvist, picked up her second foul, which led to another round of mass subs. 

Gia got another great rebound, but there were no points off it.  She then picked up a steal and nearly an assist, but still no points.  Finally, Prince (it’s easier to type that than Aaliyah) and Gia passed the ball back-and-forth on a possession, which led to Prince getting a layup by charging into the lane.  She did the same before the end of the quarter and picked up a foul shot as well.  16-15 Aggies after ten minutes.  Both teams were shaky, which kept the score low and close.

Second Quarter

Dino Dash was back.  The contestants, dressed in inflatable T-Rex suits trying to dribble and dunk, is always a crowd-pleaser.  This time, they let the contestants have their hands free instead of in the suit.  That made it easier for them, but maybe less fun for the audience. 

Highlander Daphne Gnago found a seam under the basket for four points at the start.  Marina added another basket as part of a six-point UCR run to give them the lead.  Adenike “Nike” Aderinto broke it up with a basket.  Gia grabbed another rebound.  She passed to Adrianna Henderson, who got a layout, but it was waved off on a charge call. 

After a timeout, Prince broke up another UCR run with a basket.  Marina picked up her second foul.  Aggie defense started picking up.  Prince blocked a shot.  Gia had some good defense and caused a UCR travel.  This happened in front of the Aggie bench, who went crazy cheering.  Prince got a layup off a turnover.  Next, she picked up a rebound and passed to Gia for a layup.  The Aggies got back into the lead, 26-25, before the half.

Halftime

The Cheerleaders in the stands joined the ones on the floor.  They laid out some mats and performed a big routine.  Great job.  For the half stats, both teams were turning it over a lot.  Prince was leading the Aggies with 11 points.

Third Quarter

Marina picked up her third foul right off the bat and had to come out.  The Highlanders didn’t miss a beat.  Prince had another layup in the lane to break up a four-point run.  Soufia got her first college points as Gia was double-teamed.  Soufia then got a steal and passed to Prince.  She was breaking for the basket, but was tripped on the way and had to settle for foul shots.  Prince was fouled two more times to put the Aggies in the bonus.      

Soufia got a layup.  Highlander Keilanei Cooper went down under the basket and came up limping, but stayed in.  Timeout.  Aggie super-fan Tom was on Flex Cam.  He didn’t flex, but he got a cheer anyway.  The Aggies began pressuring in the backcourt.  Soufia got a steal, but that only led to a turnover, not points. 

Marina came back in.  She took a shot to tie the score at 36.  Daphne was hurt on a play at the basket, but got the shot for the Highlanders.  She then got a layup and a foul as part of an eight-point run.  The Aggies took a timeout.  The scoring increased to a ten-point run with both teams in the bonus.  Gia got a free throw to finally break it up.  47-37 UCR.

Fourth Quarter

The Highlanders were up by 10 to start the fourth.  Gia put in an early shot.  On one UCR possession, they got three offensive rebounds and before scoring.  Ron was shouting, “Box out!”  The Aggies went to a full court defense.  Nana pulled down a rebound and got a basket.  The crowd started getting into it.

49-43 UCR, Aggie freshman Shania Harper came in for the first time.  She was an immediate sparkplug.  She got a rebound and converted on two free throws.  Gia took a hard foul to earn a couple of shots.  Timeout.  Kalei was holding a clipboard tracking the team on the sidelines.  She went over and talked strategy with Gia before she made her foul shots, 51-47 UCR.  Gia hit a three to make it 51-50, just a one-point deficit. 

With the crowd already roaring, Prince came up with a steal, a layup, and a foul shot.  The Aggies retook the lead, 53-51.  Timeout.  The band started playing a recent rap song that I’d been hearing at the Pan-Am for most of the volleyball season.  They stay current.  Out of the timeout, Prince got a strip and a wide-open layup to make it a four-point lead.

UCR was fouled and missed their first foul shot of the night.  That was the only one they missed.  The Aggies were pretty good in that category too tonight.  Gia put in another three to make it a six-point lead.  UCR came back as Marina put down two free throws and a ten-footer, 58-56 Aggies.  There was an official timeout after an Aggie turnover as they tried to determine a possession. 

With a bit more than one minute left, the Aggies had a shot clock violation.  25 seconds left, timeout UCR.  Highlander Skyler Lewis scored to tie it up at 58.  Timeout.  The Aggies had the ball with 13 seconds.  They took another timeout on a contested inbounds.  Gia finally took the last Aggie shot on a layup, but it missed in the middle of a heavy defense.  Highlander Ann Jernigan rushed the ball down the court.  Not wanting to foul her, the Aggies ended up letting her have the game-winning layup.  There was one second left on the clock, but the Aggies turned it over.  UC-Riverside won it with an 8-0 run at the end, 60-58.

Here’s a bright spot, Aaliyah Prince had a career game with 24 points.  Gia Pack did well with 18 points and **8*** rebounds.  She also had 3 three-pointers.  Unfortunately, she was the only Aggie with any made three’s.  Both teams had plenty of turnovers.  They’re still trying to get in sync this early in the season.  UCR was +6 in rebounds and had three players in double figures (Daphne Gnago 15, Marina Ewodo 14, Skyler Lewis 12). 

Aggie defense picked up well later in the game, but let up at the end.  It felt like there was one crucial error in late in the fourth.  The Aggies were up two after making a great comeback in the quarter.  With three minutes left, they started milking the clock.  That was the wrong time to let up. 

I’m encouraged by Gia’s and Prince’s play, but the team needs another steady scorer to chip in.  (As per last year’s stats, Gia and Brooke scored half of all the Aggie’s points.)  I wish Shania Harper and Soufia Inoussa weren’t freshman, because I could see either of them taking over that part with a bit more seasoning.  The team also needs to get more of a three-point shot working for the team in general. 

That was exciting and disappointing.  As the crowd broke up, I noticed Mario sitting by the sidelines with Men’s Coach Chris Jans.  That was a nice show of support from him to be here.  Though we weren’t winners, myself, Ron, and Ginny had ice cream anyway over at PQ Treats.  I probably made my last mistake of the day with my choice of flavor and topping. 

Ginny and her husband will be leaving town this weekend.  She enjoyed going to a couple of Aggie sporting events over the last two weeks.  Ron had been telling her about our times watching various games over the last few years.  She now understands the appeal.  I’m looking forward to the next game, though I admit it’s to see Katerina Zec playing for UTEP.  I’m hoping for an Aggie win, but I might be rooting for her a bit.