NM State Aggies vs UNM Lobos Women’s Basketball 12-5-21 Part 1

I warned Ron up front that this was likely going to be the only Aggie Women’s Basketball game I was going to go to this season.  He bought an Aggie Country Pass at the beginning of the season, so I knew he’d be going whenever he could.  I did not for various reasons.  Frankly, Women’s Basketball has been on the decline here for years.  From looking at the schedule, this was the only game I was interested in. 

 

I’m not sure why exactly.  The UNM Lobo rivalry games I’ve attended have not gone well.  In 2017 (12-2-17), I was at the best Women’s basketball game I’ve seen.  However, the Aggies didn’t win.  Over the next two years (12-15-18 and 11-17-19), I saw Jaedyn de la Cerda on the Lobos destroy the Aggies in what looked like an act of personal vengeance.  I don’t even think she’s a regular starter for their team in other games.  (I was told that the Aggie Women played somewhere for the 2020-2021 season, but I’ve seen no evidence of that.) 

 

So, here I am again for the I-25 Rivalry game for some reason.  Let’s examine this.  It’s a rivalry.  It’s an opportunity to hang out of with Ron for an afternoon and get some dinner.  One of the girls on the Aggies had some hot dance moves, which I saw at a Volleyball game on Dance Cam (10-2-21).  Jaedyn is rather attractive.  She somehow manages to be tough-looking and cute at the same time.  None of these reasons are good enough, but here I am anyway.

 

As long as I’m here, let’s recap some recent Aggie Sports.  I have listened to an Aggie Women’s game on an El Paso broadcast when they played UTEP a couple of weeks ago.  After getting briefly out to a lead, the Aggies quickly lost it and were wiped out by the Miners.  Jerry Kill was hired as the new Football coach.  He has a very good record and is even making a donation to the university. 

 

The Basketball Men played the Lobos last week at home and lost badly.  During the game, the power went out at the Pan-American Center causing a lengthy delay.  The lights came back on, but the team never recovered.  Coach Kill was at that game.  They probably introduced him to the crowd there at some point.  He must have been thinking, What have I gotten myself into?   The guys made a comeback this week with a win in El Paso over the Miners on a last second shot by Jabari Rice. 

 

Lastly, Aggie Volleyball played a surprise extra game.  They were invited to something like the NIT tournament for volleyball.  I think they may have been willing to accept this invitation because it was fairly nearby in Tucson at Arizona University.  Unfortunately, the Aggies lost in straight sets to UNLV.  Sets 1 and 3 were close.  Set 2 was a no-show.  I’m sure the girls were working out after the WAC Tournament, but given that this invite came a couple of weeks later, I wonder if they were still mentally ready to possibly play more, or if this tournament came out of nowhere.      

 

While I did pay the rivalry fee for a ticket, I did get a Johnny McCants Men’s Basketball poster, which I’ll post at the next opportunity.  There were a few other posters there, but I’ve run out of space for them.  (I got the above Women’s poster at an earlier game.)  Inside the Pan-Am, Ron picked up this good-looking hat giveaway for me.  I really don’t need any more hats, but this one is pretty cool. 

 

A good crowd came out for the game.  About a quarter of them were Lobo fans, who mostly came on a chartered bus.  I still have no idea how or why the UNM Women’s Basketball team has achieved this level of fan loyalty.  I don’t even know if their Men’s team gets this kind of turnout here in Las Cruces.  There was no Aggie radio call for the game.  Their games are all on ESPN+.  I’m not sure if that’s a step up or down.  The Lobos did have a live radio call going.  I saw their broadcaster at the press table and saw a fan listening on headphones.

 

The Roadrunner Revue Band was performing for the game along with a vocalist . . .  all wearing masks (which sort of explains why they sounded flat).  The Cheerleaders and Sundancers were there performing . . . in masks.  I got a better look at one of the Sundancers that I’d noticed at the Football game last month.  Wait, I got in trouble last time I mentioned a Sundancer (1-23-16 and 7-27-17).  I don’t know who she is and I’m not going to find out.  Me and rest of the crowd were in masks.  Mine was fogging my glasses periodically.  At least they let the players and the head coaches go mask-less, but not the assistants. 

 

I could see Jaedyn on court warming up.  She was still cute.  There was a large guy by their basket in a Santa hat.  At the end of the warm up, he called for a ball.  One of the Lobos passed it to him and he passed it back from behind his back.  He must have been fan and they knew him. 

 

The program was glossy, which was nice, but only had a scorecard and roster on back with no team or season stats.  I also had to use a pen to fill it out, which worked about as well as you’d expect.  The band turned their backs to the Lobos as they were introduced.  The Aggie intro video showed the girls looking generally pretty and friendly.  This was a new marketing direction.  I approve.  During player intros, I found out that the dancer on the team was Mel Isbell.  (Melanie?  Melody?)  Speaking of interesting names, I’d seen another player’s picture on the team website that I was interested in seeing playing, Moe Shida.  She’s from Japan according to the roster.  I was disappointed she didn’t get into the game.  The team looks in general very heavy on upperclassmen and graduates. 

 

First Quarter

I hate to have to write these words again, but I didn’t remember how to take notes during a game when this started.  Going to that Scrimmage a couple of months ago didn’t help.  I sat around for several minutes just keeping the scorecard not sure what to write.  Aggie fans stand until the opposing team scores.  The Lobo fans stand until their team scores.  We were all standing.  (Except for the majority of the crowd, who don’t care about tradition apparently.)

 

Both teams had some good assists early.  Mel was the Aggie point guard and hit a three to make it 9-3 Aggies.  She’d held the ball too long on the previous possession and had had a shot clock violation.  The Aggie bench was really into it with the lead.  There was a TV timeout at about the 5 minute mark.  Surprisingly, Jaedyn didn’t have any points.  She was the opposing point guard.  There was a t-shirt toss into the crowd during the break.  A few of the Lobo fans called from them. 

 

PA Ed Carnathan’s microphone went out shortly afterward.  The technical problems at the Pan-Am continue.  He wasn’t able to call the baskets for a few points, while the Lobos tied it at 9.  The Lobos went up tempo and there were a couple of Aggie fouls.  Aggie Tayelin Grays tied the score at 11.  The Lobos travelled and gave the ball back.  Bigue Sarr gave the Aggies back the lead, 14-11, with a bucket underneath and a foul. 

 

Late in the quarter, Jade Bradley made a great save on a ball going out, but unfortunately tossed it right to Antonia Anderson, who made an easy layup for the Lobos.  Mel came back with another 3 and the quarter finished 19-13 Aggies.  Sarr was the main scorer for the Aggies with 7 points and 4 rebounds.  Anderson, on the other side, had 6 points and 4 rebounds.  (Thanks for the info, new scoreboard.)  

 

Sorry, awkward break.  Continued in Part 2.