NM State Aggies vs UC Irvine Anteaters Women’s Basketball 12-5-23 Part 2

Continued from Part 1.  The first part ran really long with all that other Aggie Sports news.

Halftime

Okay, here it was!  The event we were all really here for: the Corgi Race.  Ron had gone to this race last season without me.  I remembering hounding him about it (shoot me for that pun), though I didn’t actually write much about it.  There were 21 Corgis entered into the race.  Dad questioned how there could be that many Corgis in town that wanted to race.  I’m sure they have a club.  The crowd was giddy and the Volleyball girls were loving it.

In the first heat, three of the dogs ran over to each other to meet one another.  In the second, two of the dogs failed to launch.  In the third, one dog sat, as two of the other dogs had a drag race to the finish.  The three winners (well, they’re all winners) came back for the final.  It was close as they were the three dogs that seemed to best grasp what was expected of them.  Sebastian won the race and was the champion.  His human attendant got a prize package and the dog got a belly rub. 

 

A presumed booster went over and talked to the Volleyball girls.  Once again, I was jealous.  (How much money do I need to donate in order to get so familiar and chummy with the girls?)  He got a selfie with them.  The staff photographer also got a picture of them.  They’re stars.

 

Third Quarter

A guy walked past the family sitting in front of me carrying a Corgi.  He stopped to let the kids pet the dog.  I didn’t get any petting out of it.  The evening was officially a disaster. 

UC-Irvine scored on a jumper.  Sabou Gueye was fouled and converted on her free throws to re-tie it at 30.  Sianny Sanchez-Oliver made a steal under the basket for the Aggies.  The team took three shots, but never connected.  6’ Molly Kaiser would put in another jumper on the next trip to make it 32-30.  That was her 10-th point. 

 

Anteater Clara Djoko tied the score on a fast break layup.  She was easy to spot on court wearing a bright pair of turquoise shoes.  Ene Adams picked up her third foul.  Sylena Peterson drew a charge, but then committed her third foul.  Shirel Nahum made a give-and-go layup to put UCI up 32-34 with 4’ left.  Ene committed her fourth foul going into the Media timeout.  At this point, I was getting concerned about the fouls.

 

Sebastian came back out with his agent to play the Fry Game.  Of course, the dog guessed right to win a Whataburger prize package.  I’m sure he’ll enjoy it.  The Aggies and the Anteaters went to a half court press.  Aggie Femme Sikuzani Masudi was fouled under the basket.  The ref stopped play and sent her to the sidelines to the trainers.  Femme might have been bleeding a bit, but she made her throws, 34 all with 3’ left.

 

Sianny committed her fourth foul.  Femme tied the score at 37 with a shot in the lane with under a minute left.  UCI had a turnover on their inbounds.  Nevaeh Parkinson, UCI’s big, blocked the Aggie big, Femme.  The Aggies took three last second shots, but none of them fell.  37-37

 

Fourth Quarter

UCI began the final quarter with a jumper.  They successfully trapped, got the ball back, and hit another to go up 37-41.  Deja Lee then drilled a 3 with 7’ left and the Anteaters were up 32-47.  Sabou committed a turnover with a travel call.  UCI turned that into another jumper, 37-46, 6’ left. 

 

Sianny started a comeback with a steal and a pass to Jaila Harding for a layup.  Sabou was fouled and converted on two free throws, 41-46, 5’ left.  Sabou picked up her fourth foul on defense, but came back with a sweet move and a jumper, 43-48, 4’ left.  Femme came up with a steal and Molly turned it into a 3, 46-48.  Timeout UCI.

 

On the Flex Cam in the break, a lady pumped a baby in the air.  The mother was furious.  Out of the break, the Anteaters got the ball to Nevaeh under the basket, 46-50, 3’ left.  Femme was fouled again and again dropped her throws, 49-50. 

 

Sabou made a big steal, but committed a charge and fouled out.  She went to the bench and held her head down in her hands.  Nevaeh had her fourth foul on defense and Femme made two more free throws.  Aggies up 51-50 with 2’ left.  Coach Adams took a timeout. 

 

UCI travelled on their next possession, but the Aggies turned it right back over.  Sylena was called for blocking the breakaway.  Three players went down under the UCI basket on the play.  Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba went face down on the floor and took a couple of minutes to get up.  She did finish the layup and put UCI up 51-52.  Shirel actually came in to take Baba’s free throw.  During the break, I noticed the oddity on the scoreboard of all the Anteater players that were in had 7 points each. 

 

Back to play, Femme went down hard attacking and again put in two free throws.  She was absolute nails.  Who says big players can’t make free throws?  We were tied at 53 with 1’ left.  UCI went back up with a jumper.  On offense, Loes Rozing made a lazy pass and Nikki Tom picked it off and had an easy layup.  Next, Sianny dribbled off her foot for another turnover.  UCI missed a 3, but got the rebound.  The Aggies started intentionally fouling with under a minute left, 53-59.

 

At this point, the crowd began deserting.  There was an arrival.  Broadcaster Jack Nixon checked in at the press table.  Maybe he was in the neighborhood and decided to drop in.  Molly did make a couple of free throws for the last of the Aggie scoring.  She was blocked on a near last second 3 attempt.  UCI wins 61-55. 

 

Coach Adams brought the team out to center court and chewed them out in a quick and efficient fashion.  Somewhat dejected, the team did go around courtside to greet the fans there.  The coach was angry because this was a winnable game that was basically given away.  It was a pretty good game to watch for fans at least, even with the disappointing outcome. 

 

Anteater Shirel Nahum led everyone with 16 points.  Like I said earlier, she made most of her points in the first half and wasn’t in a lot in the second half.  Diaba Konate scored 11 points.  Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba had 9 rebounds.  UCI basically led in the stats.    

 

For the Aggies, Molly Kaiser had 15 points.  Sabou Gueye had 10 points and 4 steals.  Femme Sikuzani Masudi scored 13 and was 7 of 7 on free throws.  Tonight was her Aggie debut and it was a strong one.  I was really baffled why Lucia Yenes wasn’t used more.  She’d scored 20 in the previous game, but didn’t take a shot in play tonight, except for a couple of free throws.  Maybe she was hurt.

 

My team didn’t win and I didn’t get to pet any of the adorable dogs in the arena.  I also didn’t get the opportunity to talk to AD Mario Moccia or Marketing Director Nicole Sack.  Mario was circulating around, but wasn’t close by.  I wanted to mention that the Women’s game next Saturday was crossed up with Aggie Football’s bowl game and ask if the basketball game time could be moved up and we maybe have a watch party on the Pan-Am’s video board afterward.  [Pre-post Edit: They have moved the game time.]  

 

I had an odd moment going out to my truck.  A guy walking by with his daughter offered to buy it for cash.  If you can believe, this is at least the fifth time this has happened to me.  Everyone wants my truck.  I just had the vehicle serviced this morning and bought a new battery last month, heck no!