NM State Aggies vs UNM Lobos Women’s Basketball 12-8-24 Part 2

Part 1, where this game is not discussed.

 

First Quarter

Up front, they handed out the old style programs with the scoring on the back.  I only missed a couple of baskets.  The main problem was my notetaking.  Much of the action was so quick and furious and close, I wasn’t noting the score and time like I usually do.  Just assume that score was close the whole way through. 

 

Sylena Peterson started off the game with a steal.  Destinee Hooks put in a 3 for the first Lobo points.  Fanta Gassama followed with a layup and Molly Kaiser had a layup and a coast-to-coast layup.  This would put everyone on notice who the main scorers would be this afternoon.  Joana Magalhaes was guarding Molly for at least the first half.  I’d noticed her watching on Friday, as she’s a rather striking brunette.  She fouled Molly, who converted on her two free throws.  Hooks followed that with her own coast-to-coast layup. 

 

Sianny Sanchez-Oliver and Molly ran a successful trap for a turnover.  A later foul was called on Sianny, which caused the crowd to erupt.  Molly would be fouled again and convert again.  The Aggies were up 12-7 with four minutes left.  The Lobos turned it over on an inbounds pass and Jaila Harding turned that into a 3 to make it, 15-7.  Fanta out-fought a Lobo for a rebound and Madi Gewirtz turned that into another 3.  Hooks answered with a 3.  The Aggies took several more 3-point shots, but didn’t connect on them.  Finally, both of the teams shot airballs on their final shots.  18-15 Aggies.

 

Second Quarter

Wave the Wonder Dog was honored out on court, along with a video of him in action.  The PA mentioned he was also a search-and-rescue dog.  Even Lobo fans applauded the heroic dog.  The Cheerleaders handed out more Wave hats to the crowd.  A little girl sitting on her dad’s shoulders got one.  She was very happy.

 

To start, Hooks scored twice, while the Aggies missed twice.  Coach Adams called a quick timeout.  The Lobos were in the lead, 18-19.  In the break, a promo ran for the Aggies’ 1888 beer.  The Band chanted, “Beer!  Beer!”  After the huddle, Molly talked to the team out on court.  On the sideline, Loes and Molly chatted with one of the refs during the long break.  The ref seemed friendly.  The little girl was put up on the video board.  She was also wearing a Wave hoodie with her Wave hat.  The dog is living well on merchandising.

 

Fanta was fed the ball for a layup out of the break.  We can what the Coach said in the huddle.  Fanta did accidently dribble off her foot on the next trip down.  Molly made a flat robbery of the ball and was fouled, as she streaked down the court with it.  Emma Dasovich came in and was blocked and stripped on a shot attempt.  Madi fouled Hooks, who converted on her free throws.  Molly was then fouled and she splashed two more. 

 

Loes made a steal off a trap, but then turned the ball back over.  Lobo Hulda Joaquim missed a wide open layup under the basket.  The whole crowd groaned.  Madi was rejected on a drive, but Molly got the rebound and Fanta finished with a layup.  The Lobos turned the ball over twice on traveling calls, while Fanta Euro-stepped with another two points. 

 

Madi came back with a 3 and a steal.  Jaila made another steal.  Tylie Jones came in for the Aggies.  She’d been injured at the beginning of the season, so it was good to see her back playing.  It was all Hooks at the end of the half with a 3 and a layup.  33-32 Aggies at the half.

 

Halftime

The “Grand in the Stands” contest was in effect today.  The winning student was there and collected on it.  She seemed strangely nonplussed by the affair.  The Sundancers, in sparkling crimson uniforms, performed a holiday number for the crowd.  In that crowd, the Aggie Swim and Dive team was here, as well as Jack Nixon, who was enjoying today’s game as a fan. 

 

Third Quarter

Hooks picked up where she left off, as she was fouled and converted on her free throws.  Molly came back with 3.  Madi had a block.  Joaquim picked up two fouls trying to guard Fanta.  Loes put in a 3.  (Sorry, the action was going too fast to wax eloquent about it at the time.)

 

Sylena accidently socked Hooks in the mouth while guarding her.  Loes caused a turnover on the Lobos with a tip.  Sy made a bad layup attempt, but stole the ball back at midcourt and then went into the scorer’s table and lost it again.  The Coach went over to check on her, while she was flat on the floor.  Fanta made a rebound and then went straight into the goal unit.  Both ladies were okay. 

 

Hooks went coast-to-coast again for a layup.  Fanta answered with her own layup to make it 42-40 with 5 minutes left.  In the break, Pete escorted a little girl out on court for the Fry Game, which she won.  Bongo Cam followed in the long break.  The Cheerleaders brought out little Bundt cakes from the sponsor to give to the crowd.  I should have sat closer to the court. 

 

Molly got socked breaking up a fast break by the Lobos.  (She was okay.)  Sy tipped a pass and Lucia Yenes took the ball for a steal.  Anna Csenyi came in and set a hard pick for a Molly jumper.  Sy took a charge.  Lobo Coach Mike Bradbury was in an uproar over the call.  The Aggie Booster section chanted, “Sit down, Mike!”  The quarter ended with the Lobos up though, 49-26, their biggest lead.  Play finished with Madi on the floor in a tie up over the ball.     

 

Fourth Quarter

The PA mentioned there was going to be a craft show and a concert outside after the game.  Well, why didn’t they promote this beforehand?  The little girl in the Wave shirt won the “Fan of the Game” award.  She was ecstatic again.

 

Madi lost the tie up, but made a steal at the start of the final quarter.  Molly was fouled on the fast break afterward.  Madi made another steal, but Joana stole the ball right back, though the Aggies still ended up with the possession as she lost it.  Molly hit a fall-away jumper to put the Aggies back up, 52-51.

 

The crowd was engaged and the Aggies responded.  Fanta made a layup.  Sy had a tip steal.  Molly made a layup.  56-51 Aggies and timeout Lobos with 7 minutes left.  In the break, the videoboard showed highlights of the Men celebrating their victory last night in Albuquerque.  (So cold.)  I think this was the biggest lead of the game at the time.

 

Fanta found Loes under the basket for a layup with a great assist.  Molly hit a jumper and got the foul and made the free throw.  There was a Media timeout with 4 minutes left and the Aggies had increased their lead, 61-55.  My hands were getting warm and tender from constant clapping. 

 

The Aggie defense kept it up.  Fanta stole an inbounds pass.  Sy took a charge on an easy layup and then sank a 3.  64-55 Aggies with 3 minutes left.  The Lobos had a turnover and Coach Bradbury went crazy.  The crowd wanted him tee’d up.  64-37 Aggies with 1 minute left.  The Lobos took a timeout.  Into the break, the Lobos had gotten a call their way from the officials, but Coach Bradbury was still arguing.

 

The Lobos missed a three, but got the put back, 65-60.  Sy was fouled and converted on 1 of 2 for a 6-point lead.  With 23 seconds left, the crowd was standing and cheering.  Fanta grabbed a missed 3 attempt and was fouled and made the throws.  The crowd started chanting, “Sweep!”  On the last play, Loes made a steal.  Fanta took the pass, but missed the layup.  Loes was there to finish it.  The crowd exploded.  Aggies win, 68-60!

 

I enjoyed that, especially after that Football loss last week.  Here’s your stats.  Destinee Hooks led the Lobos with 27 points and 10 rebounds.  Hulda Joaquim had 12 points and 14 rebounds.  Viene Cumber had 11 points.  Molly Kaiser led all scorers with 30 points and would be the C-USA Player of the Week!  Fanta Gassama had 14 points and 13 rebounds. 

 

Madi Gewirtz had 6 points and 4 steals.  She seems to have really long arms on defense.  Madi was the C-USA Freshman of the Week with her performances over this weekend.  I found out she was a walk-on.  She earned her scholarship from her performance guarding Molly on the first day of summer camp.  I got that from the Aggie Coach’s Show.  Coach Adams also said that Coach Hooten and the Men’s team were there behind their bench rooting for them when they were playing in Albuquerque.         

 

The Lobos shot 44% and 21% on 3’s.  They had 40 points in paint 40 and 15 second chance points.  The Aggies shot 36% and 30% on 3’s.  They were 80% on free throws (that was mostly Molly making all of hers), had 30 points in paint, and 18 points off of turnovers.  Hmm.  I’m not sure how the Aggies won this.  Well, let’s not look into this too deeply and just bask in the glow of victory.  (The Albuquerque news that night said it was the turnovers that did in the Lobos.)   

 

On the way out, I was handed a Bundt cake coupon.  Outside, a small crafts fair had suddenly been set up.  There was no hint of this when I came in.  The Grinch was there to . . . terrorize the kids?  On the lawn, some seats had been set up in front of a temporary stage.  On the other side, there was Christmas music provided by (I think) the Outlaw Pep Band (not to be confused the Roadrunner Revue inside).  A couple of people were going around lighting the luminarias. 

 

I wandered around the stalls and bought some pleasant smelling soap and two dolls, all of this for gifts.  Though I’ve been wanting Whataburger bad for the last two weeks, I’d already had some great leftover Roadrunner Pizza before going to the game.  (I’d also overeaten all week.)  I went home and told dad about the game.  He was enjoying watching his neighbor’s dogs, who were laying in his lap.  He’d had a pretty good afternoon, too.      

 

NM State Aggies vs UNM Lobos Women’s Basketball 12-8-24 Part 1

 

Let’s catch up a bit on Aggie Sports in general.  Aggie Volleyball went into the C-USA tournament in El Paso as the #3 seed, but really it was UTEP and Western Kentucky and then everyone else.  The Aggies beat Sam Houston 3-1 in the first round to face the Miners in the semifinals.  Though this was a mismatch on paper, it turned into a heavyweight bout.  The Aggies prevailed 3-2 and went on to the championship round against WKU.  Inspired, the Aggies took the first set, which was first set they’d taken off the Hilltoppers after five straight-set losses.  However, WKU regrouped and overpowered the Aggies for a 3-1 championship win.

 

The Aggies making it to the championship game was a triumph in itself after getting past a 16-2 in conference UTEP team.  The seniors really took up Coach Jordan’s challenge. Mari Sharp in particular went crazy with over 40 kills over the first two matches and an All-Tournament selection.  Way to go, ladies.

 

UTEP was the big winner in hosting the tournament.   Having Memorial Gym available as an exclusively volleyball forum helped, though they don’t have a Taraflex floor like the Pan Am Center.  (I’ve also heard it called, “Club Memorial.”  Hmm.  Let’s stick with the classics, guys.)  Over the three Aggie matches, they listed crowds of 1,500, 1,6000 (vs UTEP), and 1,500 for the final.  The cherry on top was that UTEP won an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, their first, and they deserved it.  Congratulations to Coach Wallace.  Also slightly humiliating to Aggie fans, lowly Chicago State will be making their first NCAA this year.  (I said they looked good under their new coach, 10-30-23.)

 

In Las Cruces, it was time for the I-10 Rivalry in Football.  The Aggies convincingly beat Middle Tennessee, 36-21, a couple of weeks ago.  UTEP, meanwhile, was coming off a 56-0 thrashing by Tennessee.  It was looking good for the Aggies in the first half as they went up 24-7, but that lead came at a cost.  They lost their star kicker, Abraham Montano, who may have pulled something kicking a 59-yard field goal for a school record.  (He’s kicked several 50+ yard field goals this season.)  They also lost their star running back, Seth McGowan, to injury. 

 

UTEP made the most of some sudden scoring.  They had two fumble recoveries for touchdowns and ran back a punt for a touchdown.  The Miners also put together some good scoring drives.  The Aggies floundered, even with some dumb UTEP penalties helping them.  Quarterback, Parker Awad, was finally putting the ball on target, but the receivers were dropping them.  (There were like three drops in a row on one drive.)  The Aggies lost, 42-35.    

 

Honestly, that was a truly crushing defeat to listen to.  I’d gone into the game with some optimism and was feeling good in the first half.  From there, it hurt.  I was seriously depressed for the rest of the day.  This was also Jack Nixon’s final call of an Aggie Football game.  He was pretty upbeat like me at the beginning, but was sour and salty by the end.  What a way to end 45 years of broadcasting the team.  At least Jack has finally been relieved of his burden.  (By the way, AD Moccia didn’t sound confident about scheduling UTEP for football after they move to the Mountain West conference in 2026.  Conflicting commitments might preempt it for a couple of years.) 

          

Continuing the bad news, Aggie Men’s Basketball appeared to be in a death spiral.  They’d lost five in a row, including a loss at home.  That home loss was to Abilene Christian and featured Coach Hooten getting ejected.  The Women’s Basketball team has done a bit better.  They’ve gone 2-2, since the last time I saw them.  That includes a 40-point loss to #4 Texas.       

 

Friday night, the ladies played the Lobos in the Pit in the Albuquerque.  I’d noted that the game was going to be broadcast for free over the Internet the day before and had planned on watching while at work.  Unfortunately, I’d nearly forgotten about it and had tuned in at the very end of the game.  I was somewhat shocked to the see that Aggies were about to win easily, 81-71.  By and large, the Lobos have owned this series, until Coach Adams’ first meeting with UNM (11-15-22).

 

Molly Kaiser, of course, led the Aggies with 25 points.  Loes Rozing had 17.  Fanta Gassama had 9 points, 9 assists, and 13 rebounds.  And let’s hear it for the cute freshman, Madi Gewirtz had 11 points.  The Aggies were shooting 56% and shooting 3’s at 42%.  The crowd looked small on the video, which surprised me, because the Lobo Women draw well.  Their attendance was 4,800.  Maybe a bunch left before the end.  The Lobo girls did go around the court to greet their fans, like the Aggies do.

 

Saturday night, the Aggie Men took their trip to the Pit.  This would be the Men’s teams’ only meeting this season.  For now, they’ve decided to alternate a single game between the schools each season.  The Lobos are by record and by revenue a much better team.  Just to highlight a disparity, one player on the Lobos makes more in NIL money than the entire Aggie team. 

 

The Aggies went down by 14 early in the first half, but then surged back and took the lead on the back of some hot 3-point shooting.  They had a 9-point lead at the half and it was as large as 13 at the beginning in the second half.  The Aggies then started turning the ball over and it was mostly self-inflicted.  The Lobos took most of the rest of regulation to do it, but they tied it briefly.  With a one-point Aggie lead, Christian Cook made two free throws with seconds left to give the Aggies a three-point lead. 

 

The Lobos took a last second 3-point shot, which was an air ball . . .  which was ruled a goal tend after about five minutes of deliberation.  I should also mention that at one point in the game, the Aggies were called for 19 fouls to the Lobos’ 2.  Ahem.  No problem.  The Aggies routed the Lobos in overtime, 89-83.        

 

This was likely the final time Jack Nixon would be calling a game in the Pit.  The PA there actually honored him and got Jack to wave to the large crowd of over 15,000.  After the game, he was a bit choked up.  Coach Hooten went over to Jack immediately and said they won it for him.  Cook finished with 27 points, Dionte Bostick had 17, and handsome Robert Carpenter had 20 with 6 3’s.  The Aggies shot 52% to 36% for the Lobos and were shooting 45% beyond the arc.  The Aggies unfortunately led in turnovers, 17 to 6.

 

That brings us to Sunday afternoon.  It was a cloudless, sunny day, but with a cold wind blowing.  I left for the game an hour early.  Jack had reminded me last night that there was a Wave the Wonder Dog hat giveaway.  The last thing I needed was another hat, but . . . it’s Wave.  I was concerned that a couple of busloads of Lobo fans might show up for today’s Women’s game between the Aggies and Lobos and I might get shutout.  There were no busses out in front of the Pan-Am Center, but there was a large crane working over at the football stadium.  Along the sidewalk, a bunch of luminarias had been set out.  (The northern end of the state refers to them as farolitos” for some reason.) 

 

Though early, a crowd was already there.  A few Cheerleaders and band members were hustling inside.  Inside, I received a Wave hat.  No less than Wave himself was there handing them out.  (Okay, he wasn’t handing them out, but he was there.)  I got to say hello to him and his owner.  The dog is so handsome.  No wonder they used him on the football poster. 

 

There was a decent number of Lobo fans behind their bench, but Aggie fans easily outnumbered them.  There was one obnoxious Lobo fan behind me that didn’t get the memo on where to sit.  He was loudly mocking Aggie traditions and shouting, “Miss!” on Aggie free throw attempts.  Only a couple of them were wearing Wave hats.  One Lobo fan was wearing a sparkly red jacket.  He was hard to miss.  I think I saw some of the Aggie Men come in and sit next to the Lobo section.  I didn’t see any problems arise from that. 

 

Attendance was officially 547, but I’m sure there were well more than that.  Five of the seven suites were even occupied.  Adam Young was not calling the game on TV, but Duke Keith was there.  During warmups, Duke and the color commentator coach (whose name I don’t know) called Anna Csenyi over for a chat some reason.  PA Ed was surprisingly not announcing, but his replacement did a good job.         

 

The Aggie girls were loose and dancing to the Roadrunner Revue playing Best of my Love.  Molly and Loes were the last players to leave the court to change.  Molly was taking free throw practice.  (That would pay off later.)  A C-USA promo ran on the video screen and showed all the schools.  The Band cheered for NM State and booed UTEP.  A troop of girls of varying ages marched in front of me at one point, all wearing their Wave hats backwards.  Given the different ages, I don’t know what kind of group they could have all been in together.   

 

Pistol Pete was in a festive mood.  He wore a wreath on his cowboy hat, Christmas lights around his neck, and had big candy canes in his holsters.  While the Lobos were out warming up (and for some reason their shoes were really squeaky), the video board was playing highlights of the Aggies beating them on Friday.  I took a bathroom break before the intros.  I ran into a dad and his little girl in the bathroom.  I had to hold it for a minute and wait for them to leave.             

 

This went too long.  I’ll have to recap the game itself in Part2.

Comics Review: Halloween Archie Part 1

I had reasons for buying more Archie last time, but this time it was a bit more questionable.  They offered a Choose-Your-Own-Bundle with a Halloween theme.  It was six titles for $19.99.  That pricing would turn out to be significant.  The selections featured a few trades, some digests, and several Horror and Superhero comics.  It was an odd mix and not all Halloween-related. 

 

Still, there were a couple of titles I was interested in and a few others that I had some interest in to make up a bundle.  It was a good deal.  On the day I ordered, they were offering free shipping, but the small print specified at least $20 orders.  Shipping on my order would have been $6. 

 

Archie has suddenly started offering pre-orders on new digests for $5 and just released new digests for $6.  This is a significant undercut of the $9.99 retail price.  One of them was a Jughead title that I was actually planning on looking for at the store the next day.  I added that to my cart and got the free shipping.  Everybody wins.  (This is an interesting sales development, though.  The pre-order offers are only up for a couple of days, so you have to jump on them.)    

 

There was also a Christmas bundle.  (They always skip over Thanksgiving to go straight to Christmas.)  It was more expensive for fewer titles with less selection.  And I already had some of them.  I made a list of all of the Christmas digests I already own and I’ll be looking for a better deal over the next two months.  There’s a couple of items I’m interested in, if I can get them at a discount.  Sure I’ve got plenty of holiday comics, but a few more wouldn’t hurt. 

 

Archie Showcase Digest #18: Archie Halfway to Halloween

As Archie goes all-out for Christmas, they also do so for Halloween.  And also like their Christmas in July Showcase issues, they also double-dip with this six-month early Halloween Showcase.  For your Halloween reading, this is great.  In June, I’m not so sure, but it’s still fun.

 

Most of this issue is comprised of reprints of Archie’s Weird Mysteries and two multi-issue Halloween stories.  It includes what I think is the first issue of Weird Mysteries, which I reviewed earlier (3-4-21).  This is the story with a KISS knock-off band playing at Riverdale High.  The other issues are enthusiastically drawn by Fernando Ruiz.  I like the artwork, though the stories aren’t that great.  

 

The centerpiece of the volume is a three-part story called, “The House of Riverdale.”  This ran through issues of Archie, and Jughead.  It is a surprisingly spooky story for an Archie comic.  It includes a cameo from Sabrina, as this is right up her alley. 

 

The other story also runs in three parts.  We’ll call it The Tale of the Cursed Jewels.  It ran through an issue of Archie and two issues of Betty & Veronica.  It’s more mischief than scary.  Sabrina again makes an appearance.  The artwork by the Kennedy Brothers and Dan Parent shines.  

 

 

Shuffled among these stories are older stories from probably the 60’s that are classically illustrated.  There is an interesting Little Archie story that is sort of a retelling of original The Mummy movie.  This story might have made more sense with the regular Archie high school gang.          

 

 

The Josie and the Pussycats meeting a vampire story is from the 80’s.  I had the original comic it was published in, so I got some nostalgia from this one.

 

Overall, this is a really good seasonal comic, especially for that House of Riverdale story. 

 

The Complete Cosmo the Merry Martian

I was sort of interested in this as part of Archie’s Halloween bundle at a 50% discount.  I didn’t know anything about the character other than he came from the 50’s and there’d been a more recent revival by Archie, possibly to keep the character out of public domain.

 

The classic 50’s stories are cute and well-drawn.  They feature Cosmo as a Martian exploring the Solar System with his friends.  The stories are, let’s say, “science-light.”  There is some fun with Cosmo’s crew trying to figure out baffling earth customs.  In addition, there are trips to the Moon, Venus, and Saturn.  

 

This story with the Vegetable people reminds of that infamous Lost in Space episode and predates it by about a decade.

 

Jarringly, we skip from the 50’s to the far future, 2014.  Cosmo is revived in this Archie parody entitled, The Good Guys of the Galaxy.  It features a very odd mix characters that are presumably also old Archie characters.  This send up of the MCU is done by Fernando Ruiz and his energetic art and Tom DeFalco’s excellent story.  It’s funny, adventurous, and full of imagination.  It’s not just the highlight of the volume, or even the whole Halloween bundle, it’s an all-time Archie classic.  Oh, how I wish they’d continue this as its own series.  Unfortunately, it’s not the 80’s, where Archie would casually spin off goofy titles all the time.          

 

Following this, there are three short Archie stories where Cosmo makes an appearance.  He’s a guest in one, but just a little cameo in the other two.  (Ruiz would often sneak little shots of Cosmo into his stories.) 

 

Finally in 2018, Archie did a full revival of Cosmo in a new series.  This book includes the first issue of that.  This followed Archie losing their license to Sonic the Hedgehog.  Cosmo and his crew were redesigned to look a bit more video game-like, so this was sort of meant to take Sonic’s place.  It kind of follows the original series in some ways, while updating the characters.  Not having read any of the other issues, it’s hard to say how well this revival went.  It wasn’t a bad idea and the artwork is good. 

 

I've got a bunch more Archies to review, but I'm still reading them.