NM State Aggies vs UTEP Miners Women’s Basketball 12-15-21 Part 2

 

Continued from Part 1.

 

Third Quarter

Most of the Cheerleaders left at halftime.  They were just there for the performance.  Bigue Sarr picked up another early foul, her fourth, and had to come right back out.  UTEP must have game planned going after her.  The Miners took the lead on an Eliana Cabral jumper, 44-45.  Soufia Inoussa had a block, and the Aggies retook the lead, 48-47, into the Media timeout. 

 

A couple of bad Aggie turnovers came after the break, the Aggies got a steal and Jade Bradley drove in for a layup.  Taylor got a layup and drew a foul to make it 57-51 Aggies.  Timeout Miners.  Deja Terrell, who had been playing in place of Sarr, picked up her fourth foul and had to come out.  The Aggies still held a 61-53 at the end of the quarter.

 

Fourth Quarter

There was a second t-shirt toss by the Cheerleaders.  (The first was somewhere in the first half.)  One of the Cheerleaders ran way up the stairs to give a shirt to a lady.  The break seemed to run long.  The Cheerleaders refused to vacate the court while the music was still going, though the players were ready to play. 

 

After a hard foul, Avery Crouse for the Miners picked up her fourth and Katia Gallegos came up limping.  However, Sarr picked up her fourth right after.  Teal Battle got a layup and drew a foul to close the Miners within 2 with 7 minutes left.  Fouls were basically happening on every possession downcourt.  A scrum under the basket on one play resulted in some light slapping.  The Miners tied it at 64 with 5 minutes left.

 

Deja got a steal and went coast-to-coast to give the Aggies a 2-point lead.  The Aggie bench started shouting, “De-Fence!”  Both benches were yelling like it was a high school game.  Mel Isbell picked up her fourth foul into the Media timeout.  Pistol Pete took one of the Cheerleaders into his arms and danced her around on the sidelines.  Out of the break, PA Ed made a surprise announcement: Mel’s foul was waved off, Crouse was instead given her fifth and fouled out, and Mel got 2 free throws.

 

Molly Kaiser fell on a loose ball in front of the Aggie bench.  They went wild over her effort.  She then buried a jumper to give the Aggies a 69-64 lead with 3 minutes left.  Mel then fouled out.  Ouch, there went the Aggies’ point guard.  Katia was sent to the nail for the second trip in a row.  The Aggie bench was now leading the crowd in chanting, “De-Fence!”  Molly hit 2 free throws to keep the Aggies in the lead, 71-67, with just under 2 minutes left.  Katia closed it to 71-69, as the Miners took a timeout.  Out of the break, Katia was then fouled by Molly for 2 more free throws. 

 

Deja fouled out, though both UTEP free throws were missed.  I think both teams were already in the bonus with 5 minutes left in the game.  Adrianna Henderson fouled Katia, who was guarding her at the time.  It was a bit of a flop, but Henderson did push her out of the way.  Teal got a layup and a free throw.  Timeout Aggies with 40 seconds left and a 1-point lead. 

 

Molly airballed a shot and then fouled Katia again.  Katia made 1 and tied the score at 73 with 14 seconds left.  The Aggies turned it over on their last possession.  Katia took a halfcourt shot that hit the backboard and the rim.  The buzzer sounded and to overtime we went.

 

Overtime

There was confusion before the tip as neither team was sure whose goal was whose.  I guess neither team had played overtime this season.  Taylor, who had had the Aggies’ hot hand all night, buried a jumper.  Katia took another foul and converted on the free throws.  We were tied at 75 with 3 minutes left.  Katia found Erin Wilson under the basket for a 75-77 Miner lead.  Sarr’s counterpart, Elina Arike, fouled out.  Sarr converted on one of her free throws leaving the Aggies down 1. 

 

Moe Shida came in for the Aggies to run point.  I was hoping to get to see the Japanese player in the game.  (Now, I’d like to know how she ended up here.  That might be a good story.)  Sarr fouled out on a charge with 1 minute left and the Miners up 76-77.  Taylor got a big block, but Dagne Apsite got a block on the other end.  Timeout Miners with 30 seconds left.

 

Out of the break, Katia was intentionally fouled and converted on both shots.  Timeout Aggies, now down by 3.  Taylor made a layup and drew the foul, but missed on the free shot.  78-79 Miners, 22 seconds left.  Time out Miners.  Teal was intentionally fouled and converted on both shots to put the Aggies down 3 again.  Taylor missed a 3.  The Aggies did get the ball back, but weren’t able to get another shot off.  78-82 Miners final.

Five players fouled out of the game in total.  At the end, three Aggie players with 0 points were playing.  It was an ugly game, but exciting.  The Aggies led most of it, but it could have gone either way at any time.  The Miners got the win, but take an ‘F’ in Civics for not showing up for the Anthem. 

 

My Aggie players of the game are Taylor Donaldson with 25 points, she stepped up with Bigue Sarr neutralized, and Molly Kaiser scored 12.  I think Molly scored most of those points in the second half.  For the Miners, Katia Gallegos scored a career-high 26 points.  16 of those were free throws.  The Aggies were trying to stop Katia, but couldn’t figure out how to do so without fouling her.  Elina Arike had 16 as the Miners’ big man (woman) down low.  I found out later, the Miners were actually missing their best scorer for this game.  It could have been worse.

 

“I knew they were going to lose,” said Ron when we got outside.  I knew you were going to say that, I thought to myself.  Like the game against the Lobos, I appreciate that the Aggies are playing hard.  They’re so close to being good, but they have to be able to close it out.  With these rivalry losses, I have to think Coach Atkinson’s contract isn’t going to be renewed whenever it’s up unless she can win the WAC. 

 

The team has two more games this month, both are on weekday afternoons.  I could go, but I already told Ron that I wasn’t interested.  These are pretty much glorified scrimmages (or should be) against minor teams.  Never say “Never” I guess, but I don’t want to have write recaps for those kind of games.  Sorry for being lazy.  Ron has a season pass.  I also don’t want to pay for these games.  Sorry for being cheap.

 

We went to Chik-fil-a afterward.  I wanted to try one of their Peppermint Chocolate Shakes.  Ron didn’t put in an order at the last minute and I felt bad about going, but at the window, we ran into a former co-worker at the window.  I was happy to see her and she was as adorable and charming as ever.  The shake was good, but strong.  I coughed after the first suck on the straw and had to get a drink of water.

 

Back at home, I started listening to the Aggie Men playing the Washington State Cougars.  They were down by 18 right after the half.  I kept listening anyway and didn’t give up and neither did the Aggies.  They came back and tied it and took the lead with 3 minutes left.  The Cougars didn’t get a field goal in the last five minutes of the game, as the Aggies won 64-61. 

 

This was the first Power Five road win under Coach Jans.  He was quite proud of it.  He was even prouder of Jabari Rice on the team.  He said Jabari had rallied the team in the huddle when they were down and told them not to give up.  With this win, the Aggie Men have won all four on their road trip.  They beat UTEP and UNM on last second shots.  They won another close one against Loyola Marymount.  Poor Jack Nixon on the broadcast.  He’s actually requested that the team win by more to take some of the stress off his heart.