Halftime
The Sundancers
gave a spirited performance at the half.
A cute, perky trainer with the group stood in front of us to make a
video of their performance. (Such a
pretty smile.) Coach Baarts came by going down the sideline tables. I tried to wave to him to show him my Soccer
championship t-shirt to show him how much I paid for it, but didn’t get his
attention. He sat down by AD Mario Moccia at the other end.
Santa came out on the floor with the Cheerleaders. They performed a high-flying acrobatic
routine that wowed the crowd. Who knew
the Jolly Olde Elf was so spry? Mario
went over and got his picture taken with him.
Mario asked for a controversy-free Christmas for NM State Athletics (and
a bowl win).
On the sidelines, a guy in the seats that looked like a
team trainer casually drained a 3 before the warmups started. That got a “Whoa” out of the crowd. In front of broadcasters, the refs met and
fist-bumped each other. There is another
team on the court that wants to perform well (not sure if that happened
tonight).
Third
Quarter
Ene
Adams got a layup to start the Aggie scoring for the second
half, but a travelling call turned the ball over on the next trip. The Aggies were defending well and forced a
shot clock violation. Ene grabbed a
rebound and made a bucket. Miner Elina Arike matched her with a quick
layup. The Aggies took a timeout after
that, up 35-29, 3 minutes in.
There was a cute commercial for Sunday’s Men’s game and
the Teddy Bear Toss at the half. The
fans seem to like the promotion. Across
the court, the girl I was fixating on with the impressive piles of curly hair
was rocking out to the Cher song over the PA.
Nobody’s perfect. The Miners came
out pressing again. Shania Harper picked up her third foul. Arike got a block on Tayelin Grays and came up with the ball, but stepped out. Molly got her third foul on a charge
call. She came right back with a steal,
but was blocked on her fast break layup.
35-31 Aggies with 4 minutes left at the Media timeout. Harper didn’t call “Glass,” but did get a
bank shot out of the break. Taylor Donaldson was called for a reach
in after a turnover. It was her third
foul. Arike had a steal and layup to make
it 37-35. Timeout Aggies. Back to the action, Tayelin was called for a
questionable charge for her third foul. Molly
made a wild long pass to a UTEP player, who then threw it right back to her on
a wild long pass. Molly would miss a
last second shot. The quarter ended tied,
37-37. The UTEP bench and their fans were roaring.
Fourth
Quarter
A super cute girl was on court in the break for the Whataburger Fry Game. Her and the crowd made the pick and won
easily. Molly was up to 14 points. Arike and Avery Crouse each had 10 points for the Miners. Molly went to coast-to-coast on a layup and
the Aggies had two defensive stops on UTEP.
The ref wearing the mask got hit by a tipped ball. It wasn’t a comment on the officiating by the
players. However, Molly was called for
her fourth foul. She was scrambling for
a loose ball with a Miner player. It
looked like a jump ball. Molly came out. Arike put in a shot from under the basket to
put UTEP up 39-41 with 6 minutes left.
After a coast-to-coast layup by Jazion
Jackson, UTEP went up 39-43. Timeout
Aggies.
Soufia
Inoussa drained two free throws after a foul, but Jackson got a
layup and made a free throw. Taylor also
picked up her fourth foul on that play.
Molly came back in. Arike blocked
Taylelin again on a shot. Jackson had
another layup to make it 41-48 Miners.
The Aggies hadn’t been shooting much from behind the arc. They came back with two missed shots. It was 41-50 with 3 minutes left, before
Soufia hit the team’s first 3 of the game.
Molly made a jumper and Taylor hit a 3 to close the score
to 49-51. The Miners came back with a
layup and a foul. The crowd was in an
uproar. They’d been vocal up to this
point, but it was turned up more now.
The refs had a lengthy review of the play. Molly was given the foul and fouled out. She got a good hand coming out, finishing
with 18 points.
Taylor hit another 3 on a fast break to cut the score to
52-54. Timeout Miners. Ashlee
Strawbridge made a steal on an inbounds that went out. The refs had another long review that did go
the Aggies’ way. Nevertheless, the crowd
wasn’t amused. There was a loudmouth
behind me that been going for the whole game and was really letting the refs
have it. Arike hit two free throws after
being fouled. The Aggies were
disorganized and turned it over. 52-57 UTEP wins.
Molly
Kaiser finished with 18 points and 3 steals. Ron said he saw her puking into a bucket
during the game and that’s he’s seen her do it in every game. I cannot confirm that. Taylor
Donaldson had 11. Shania Harper did the dirty work with 10
rebounds. I think the team was missing Sylena Peterson, who was out for the
game. She’s a pretty good shooter. For the Miners, Elina Arike led with 16 points and Avery Crouse had 10.
Neither team shot 3’s well. The Aggies were 3 for 15; the Miners were 2
for 8. The Miners went 46% shooting,
while the Aggies only shot 36%. The
Aggies did go 7 for 7 on free throws.
They did not have a lot of assists, so they weren’t moving the ball
around and finding the open shot. The
team is competitive under Coach Adams,
but is either lacking the pieces to win and/or they need more experience.
The Aggies did go around the sidelines to greet the fans, though they weren’t entirely enthusiastic. Ron and I were both satisfied with the effort, even with the loss. Ron was a bit quiet all evening. I think he was mostly over his cold. The girls should have an easier foe for next week’s noon game. I’m taking my last day off for the year for it and am looking forward to it.
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