NM State Aggies vs Wyoming Cowgirls Women's NIT Basketball 3-15-18

Photo from Las Cruces Sun News by Gary Mook.

This is a great pic of Brooke Salas, and there's UTEP's Katerina Zec in the background, adding to the good looks.

Welcome to 7,200ft above sea level and the city of Laramie,Wyoming.  Apparently , there's only one flight a day into Laramie, so the Aggie girls had to fly to Denver and bus in.  Their destination was the “Dome of Doom,” Wyoming University's arena and a good Cowgirls team (and I appreciate the gender-specific team naming for a change).  I took a look at a picture online.  It is a large, nice facility. 

At least the Aggies wouldn't be battling the elements tonight unlike Wyoming's fans.  It was snowing hard there in the evening.  Adam Young reported that they usually draw 3000 people for their games from the surrounding area, but the weather was keeping many of their otherwise hearty fans away, even for a tournament game.

Before the game, I wondered how the girls were going to react to playing in the NIT.  Seniors Zaire Williams and Jasmine Cooper, who haven't known anything other than playing the NCAA Tournament for three years, must have been keenly disappointed.  Likewise, everyone except new players this year, would have been looking forward to it.  This had to be a come-down. 

They were at least playing for the possibility, given the NIT's arcane scheduling, of at least one more home game.  I seem to remember that the UTEP Women's team a couple of years ago actually played for the NIT title in El Paso.  I'd hoped this game would be here, since tickets were a fairly reasonable $13 (as opposed to the $100 Men's NCAA tickets).  Standing in the Aggies' way though was Mountain West Player of the Year, Liv Roberts.  This Cowgirls team had also beaten the New Mexico Lobos three times this season.  This was the same team that the Aggies had lost to twice, including a barn-burning in Las Cruces (12-2-17).

First Quarter

Regardless of the size of the crowd, they were very enthusiastic.  The Aggies didn't get their first points until five minutes into the game, but their defense held up well, so it was only 6-2 Cowgirls halfway through the quarter.  Unfortunately, Wyoming planted a couple of three's right after to make it 12-3.  The quarter finished with the Cowgirls firmly up, 21-11.  The two conference Players of the Year were leading their teams, Liv Roberts with 15 and Brooke Salas with 9.

Second Quarter

Coach Atkinson was making frequent substitutions for the altitude.  Jeneva Toilolo  came into the game wearing a new number.  Her regular jersey didn't make the trip.  The Aggies turned up their defense and managed to close the difference to 6, but the Cowgirls soon had it back to double digits.  Good thing for them that their team doesn't play like their band.  I caught a little of them during a break.  They suck and made me appreciate the Roadrunner Review all the more.

Aaliyah Prince cycled into the game off the bench and immediately hit a basket.  Good for her getting some playing time.  Gia Pack, who'd been playing well, got hit with an elbow on a flagrant foul.  She had to come out for the rest of the half.  Prince came back in for her.  I was skeptical given what I'd seen of her play this year, but she proceeded to get get a reverse layup and hit another jumper.  I was happily impressed.  The Aggies were back in it, down 35-30.  Roberts finished the half with 22, 7 for 7 on free throws.  Brooke was up to 16.

Third Quarter

Adam reported that both highways out of Laramie were closed.  This was going to be putting a bit of a crimp in the Aggies' departure plans, which involved taking the bus back to Denver tonight.  Gia came back into the game with a vengeance.  The Aggies got within 2, but a couple of turnovers drove the Wyoming lead back up to 7.  Brooke was covered like a blanket was it was on Gia to score.  The coach became infuriated over a non-call on Brooke being hit while shooting.  It was 53-48 Cowgirls after three quarters.  Terrible stat during the quarter: the Aggies were 1 for 14 on three-point attempts. 

Fourth Quarter

The game continued to be tight.  Playing the hot hand, Prince was back in and scored 5 to tie the score at 53.  The crowd definitely got into it.  The Aggies picked up three quick fouls and the Cowgirls were back up 57-53.  The crowd was still roaring at the two minute mark as Wyoming increased their lead to 63-56.  Brooke hit a three late , but it was too late.  67-59 Wyoming was the final.  The Aggies did not try fouling in the last minute and just let it expire. 

Only five Aggies scored in the game.  Brooke Salas had 21 and Gia Pack had 20.  We're looking forward to seeing these two back next season.  Our next leading scorer was Aaliyah Prince with 11, going 5 for 6!  Was this the same little hotdog I'd seen out on the court this year with more ambition than talent?  Did she just need a bigger stage to showoff?  I'm looking forward to seeing more of her too.

Zaire Williams had 6 points, but really had a bad game with turnovers.  Jeneva Toilolo had 1 point on a free throw.  She had a couple of chances in the paint, but wasn't able to finish.  I see the potential with her.  I hope she'll be able to work on it over the off-season.  Okay, that was all the offensive contributions, and I'd say that was why they lost.  I don't know where Monique Mills or Jasmine Cooper were, but some scoring from them, probably would have put the team over the top.  Meanwhile, there was no defending Liv Roberts on the Cowgirls.  She had 28 points on 8 for 10 shooting and went 9 for 9 for free throws.    

There wasn't an interview with Coach Atkinson again after the game, just like after their last WAC game (3-19-18).  With that, I'm going to take a stab at recapping the season.  I wasn't really prepared for this today, so forgive me if I forget lots of stuff and don't link to every game I went to.

The Aggies had some bad losses at home in 2017, including a shocker to the start the season to Western Michigan (11-12-17).  They hadn't lost on their home court since 2016 in an OT loss to Arizona (12-4-16).  They lost to the NM Lobos in Albuquerque in front of over 5,000 hostile fans and in Las Cruces (12-2-17).  The Lobos brought a bunch of their fans with them for that game, while Aggies fans were sitting outside, tailgating for the big football game.  Even with the disappointing loss, at 101-93, that was one of the best Women's basketball games I'd ever seen. 

The team had a good, grind-it-out win over their other main rival, UTEP next (12-10-17).  Tangentially, I got to see lots of Katerina Zec then and became enamored.  The Aggies went on a long road trip.  They were completely annihilated at Arizona in front of 7,500 fans, mostly screaming kids (12-14-17).  The girls had an inspired win at Pepperdine with their former coach, Mark Trakh in attendance (12-17-18).  

Once again (12-29-17), Aggie Women's Basketball conflicted with a big football game.  While it was extremely gratifying that Aggie Football was playing meaningful games, it was another low-attendance game for the girls.  What followed was a 30-point loss to UC-Santa Barbara.  This might have been the low-point of the girls' season, though Jasmine Cooper did breakout offensively in the game.

After a chippy contest with Western NM (12-31-17), the Aggies began conference play to start 2018.  This was when the girls turned it up and only dropped three games out of 14, all losses on the road.  They got that home court magic back.  With a little help on the last day of the season (3-18-18), they won the regular season championship.  However, there was some stiff competition this season in the WAC tournament and the Aggies ran right into a buzzsaw that was Seattle U's red-hot shooting (3-9-18).

Brooke Salas definitely earned her pre-season POTY award.  She was a good, steady rock for the team.  When she wasn't scoring, Brooke was getting rebounds, blocks, and steals.  Gia Pack was a great compliment in scoring for a one-two punch.  It was very hard for any team to keep both of them from scoring in a game.  Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough support for these two to be able to play with really good opponents.  We hope Monique Mills will step into that role next year.

The program lost a great coach in Mark Trakh, along with a great class of seniors last year.  Coach Brooke Atkinson was still handed a pretty good team for a first-year head coach.  Her first and best decision was not to make any major changes in play philosophy.  I think the first half of the season was a learning one for her.  Given how the team played in the second half, she obviously learned well.  This post-season was also a learning one for her, so we'll hopefully see what she learned next season.  This, of course, depends on repeating this season's success and seeing how well she does in off-season recruiting. 

Cheers to the girls on a good season.  I had a good time with them.  And from Twitter, the girls did make it to Denver in the morning for their flight and still look in good spirits.