NM State Aggies vs Southern Utah Thunderbirds Women’s Basketball 12-31-22

Happy New Year’s Eve!  I was glad that Year End processing at the workplace went smoothly the night before.  Before going to work, I got to watch a great Sun Bowl between Pitt and UCLA.  Pitt won 37-25 on a field goal with four seconds left.  The lead changed twice in the last two minutes. 

 

Ron and I discussed what we were going to do on Saturday a couple of times.  The Aggie Women were playing Basketball in the afternoon.  The Men were playing right after and there were $10 tickets available.  But, the two College Football Playoff games were on at the same time.  We both wanted to watch the first game with TCU and Michigan.  I finally left it up to Ron and he picked the girls and we’d catch the second half of the football game.               

 

The first thing I did upon entering the Pan-Am Center was visit the merch kiosk for an Aggie Football championship t-shirt.  I did not need one more t-shirt in my closet, but if the Aggies are going to keep winning championships, I have to keep buying t-shirts.  The new kiosk is pretty convenient for shopping. 

 

We went into the stands about 20 minutes before the game and nobody was on court and nearly nobody in the stands.  The Southern Utah Thunderbirds came out briefly and left before the Anthem.  Nine players warmed up, though only eight played.  The Band and the Sundancers were still on vacation for this game.  Pistol Pete (one of the alternates) and a few Cheerleaders were here.  The crowd filled in right before the tip (607 in attendance).  There were a couple of people in the newly opened box seats and lounge. 

 

I admit that however the game went, I had a good time girl-watching.  There was a cute camera girl below us with a great haircut.  SUU’s coach, assistant coaches, and some of the players were tall, pretty blondes.  One of the ref’s had the severe look Teutonic blonde dominatrix.  (Nothing wrong with that, if you like that sort of thing.)  OMG!  Emerson, the marketing assistant goddess herself, suddenly appeared and looked hotter than ever.  I’d assumed she’d graduated and moved on.    

 

The team was running on a three-game winning streak.  Shania Harper had come back for a road game and had had a great performance.  Soufia Inoussa has recovered from her twisted ankle.  Moe Shida was unfortunately not with the team this afternoon.  She is admittedly one of my favorites.  Some of the team spent Christmas with Coach Adams.  The Coach was dressed conservatively this afternoon, but had her hair done up nice.

 

First Quarter

SUU is a pretty tall team.  The Aggies started Ashlee Strawbridge and Ene Adams, but neither were as tall as a couple of the T-Bird’s starters.  In spite of this, the Aggies out-rebounded SUU, especially on offensive rebounds.  On one possession, the Aggies got four offensive rebounds, but then turned it over on a travelling call.  Actually, the travelling calls were once again thick.  I didn’t even bother counting or noting all of them.  Ron felt it was certain refs overcalling it.  That said, if it’s going to be called, you gotta make sure you’re not doing it.

 

Another thing about those offensive rebounds, it meant the Aggies couldn’t get it in the basket.  After a couple of early shots, they went cold.  They were also picking up fouls early, but with a lot of subbing, at least they were being distributed around several players.  Harper got a steal on a bad pass and got a layup off it.  Molly Kaiser hit a 3 after getting an offensive rebound.  Right after, Taylor Donaldson got a steal and drew a foul.  16-13 Aggies after 10 minutes.

 

Second Quarter

When we were last here, Lucia Yenes had had a great game against Northern New Mexico.  She came in late in the first quarter.  She hit a jumper to start this quarter.  Ene gave her a great feed under the basket for a layup.  Lucia had the play of the game later in the quarter.  Sabou Gueye forced a turnover and Lucia came up with it.  She took off down court with Sabou and made a behind the back pass to her for the layup.  Yeah!  That got a rise out of the crowd.

 

Sabou also had a great no-look pass to Harper inside for a bucket.  Soufia made a cut to the basket and Ene found her for a basket.  Sabou and Sylena Peterson had steals.  The Aggies were up 30-20 with 3 minutes left.  However, the Aggies were still picking up fouls and travelling calls.  Thunderbird Samantha Johnson hit a late 3 with seconds left to make it 34-29 at the half.

 

During the quarter, PA Ed Carnathan’s mic went out and they had to quickly get him a backup.  AD Mario Moccia walked by me.  I said, “Hi,” and told him he did a good job and held up my new Football shirt.  On the other side of the court, a little girl in a cowboy hat with pom-poms was cheering her heart out.  It was too cute.  There was also a little toddler that kept getting away from her dad at courtside and kept wanting to wander on to court.      

 

Third Quarter

There was no halftime show, except for Emerson coming out to the sideline tables and setting them up for the fans that would be coming for the Men’s game.  I, at least, found that entertaining.  SUU came out and made two quick layups to get within a point.  Molly had a steal, blocked a layup and drew a foul, made a jumper, and had an assist to Ene to get the score to 40-34.

 

Molly was matched on the other side by Cherita Daugherty on the T-Birds.  She’d scored 10 points to this point and had a steal.  She tied it at 40 with a pair of free throws.  Sylena picked up her fourth foul while knocking a player down at midcourt.  Cherita picked up her third foul and Molly got two free throws from it.  Molly then got her third foul on an accidental bump.  At the end of the quarter, the Aggies got three offensive rebounds, but no points on a possession.  Cherita made a layup, but Taylor made a last second shot to make it 50-45.

 

Anita Skipper (Maxwell) came in and sat behind the press table to watch the game.  I pointed her out to Ron as Jack Nixon’s partner in calling Men’s games.  He didn’t seem impressed.  I later read off some of her accomplishments to him (all-time scoring leader Men or Women, only Aggie basketball player whose number has been retired Men or Women).  The Men’s Basketball team was also here watching.  They were in the empty Student Section.  (The Students are still on break.)  Their opponents, Sam Houston, were up near the concourse watching the game.     

 

Fourth Quarter

Chubby Checker’s Twist played during the break.  Aggie Marketing worked in a promotion with it.  They had a Senior Citizen hold a can of Twisted Tea (a sponsor) while doing the Twist.  Shameless, but amusing.

 

Early in, Cherita scored on a couple of free throws and finally put the T-Birds ahead on a layup, 51-50, with 7 minutes left.  Ashlee made an acrobatic, off-balance jumper to put the Aggies back up.  Megan Jenson on SUU fouled out.  Several players on both teams were in foul trouble, but she was the only one who fouled out. 

 

Cherita tied it at 53 on a layup with 4 minutes left and then put SUU in the lead with a jumper.  Taylor made a steal, but the Aggies missed three times on the trip down court.  Cherita hit another jumper.  Sylena made a scoop layup, drew a foul, and made the free throw to make it 57-56 SUU. 

 

The Aggies expended their last timeout with 34 seconds left, down 59-58.  Molly made a running shot with 5 seconds left that was blocked.  Taylor immediately fouled.  Two free throws later, it was 61-58 SUU.  Sylena took the final shot from beyond the arc at the buzzer and it just missed.  She doubled over in competitive pain afterward. 

 

Molly Kaiser led the Aggies with 18 points.  Shania Harper had 12.  Ene Adams had 10 rebounds.  For the T-Birds, Cherita Daugherty led everyone with 26 pts.  She played all 40 minutes.  Lizzy Williamson had 12 rebounds.  She’s a 6’5” blonde with very long legs.  The Aggies shot 35%.  The T-Birds shot 53%.  Neither team could hit a 3, going a combined 4 for 26.  The Aggies did finish with 18 offensive rebounds, which is either great or terrible, depending on how you want to look at it. 

 

It occurred to me that this was my fault.  I’d again forgotten to wear the souvenir hat that I’d gotten at the beginning of the season.  The girls went around the court to greet the fans, but were very dejected.  The Men came out to practice right after the game, which had probably run long.  Ron said later that we probably could have stuck around and watched the Men’s game for free.  I don’t know whether that would have worked out, but we did have other things to do.      

  

Specifically, we were hungry.  I made quick use of a McAlister’s gift card for Christmas to fix that.  (They’d remodeled their whole restaurant since the last time I’d been there.)  Over at my apartment, we watched a classic college game between TCU vs Michigan, which the Horned Frogs won 51-45.  This was followed by another classic, as Georgia beat Ohio State, 42-41, as the game was decided by a last-second missed field. 

 

We did listen to the Aggie Men’s Basketball game and that did not go well.  They lost 75-62 to Sam Houston and never really threatened them.  They’ve lost two conference games in a row on their home court.  This hasn’t happened in years.  Their off-court problems (including having a player that can only play home games due to legal issues) and Coach Heiar being new to head coaching at this level are their main problems.  With the Women, they’re so close to being good, but don’t seem to have the players or maybe the experience to finish with wins.  I think both teams will be better next year, even learning a new conference, but this is going to be a rough season.