I didn’t realize last Monday that the winds were going to get a lot worse for the rest of the week with huge dust storms. Here on Saturday, the wind finally died down and a rainstorm came through. It rained lightly for five minutes. Now, everyone’s car in town, especially mine, is a muddy mess. I finally need to wash my new car. I gave up on washing my old truck a long time ago. I need to figure out where to go to wash a car.
Welcome to another Senior Day. Honestly, these are getting harder and harder to attend. I get choked up over some of these players leaving. The parking lot of the Pan-Am Center wasn’t full, but inside, I’d never seen so many people at the concessions outside of a Men’s Basketball game. There was a great crowd of 7,432 today for Aggie Women’s Basketball vesus Sam Houston. (I have to question that number a bit, but it’s the official number.)
The ladies had suffered a couple of bad road losses before coming home this week. Molly Kaiser, in particular, was off and had only 10 combined points for those two games. On Thursday, she came roaring back with 35 points and a win! (That tied a career high.) I tried to listen to the Aggie Men’s Basketball game that night, but it didn’t come on over the Internet. (Retiring broadcaster Jack Nixon only has a few games left.) They won big on the road on Thursday. Today, their game started a half-hour before the ladies and I was able to listen to the whole thing. They went behind early to start.
On court, I saw the head referee introduce himself to Adam Young and the rest of the broadcast crew. He also shook hands with a couple of Aggie fans sitting next to them. The team came out on the court led by Molly, who was all smiles. Madi Gewirtz had great-looking hair today. She’d gotten styled for the occasion. Tylie Jones was now on crutches. I guess she’d had surgery. During introductions, Molly played up to a contingent of friends and family in the crowd behind the bench. The non-starters on the team all ran over and tossed their souvenir balls to the Band.
First Quarter
Here’s where I’d usually be posting my scorecard, but there were no programs to be had today. The courtside seats had them. Maybe I got there too late to get one given the size of the crowd? Without a scorecard, I almost didn’t know what to do with myself other than scribble incomprehensible notes.
Fanta Gassama got the first points of the game. Loes Rozing followed that up with a 3. (Those would be hard to come by today.) On defense, Fanta had a block and Molly drew a charge. On the Aggie bench, Madi saw the charge and fell backward into a teammate’s arms in appreciation. Molly then drew a second foul on Bearkat Fanta Kone and then found Aggie Fanta under the basket for an assist and a layup. 7-4 Aggies with 6 minutes left in the quarter.
Loes found Fanta sneaking under the basket as well, but that shot was blocked. Back on defense, Lucia Yenes was in and seemed to take a shot to the jaw under the basket. To add insult, she was also given a foul. After a pair of free throws, SH was up, 8-7. Sylena Peterson was fouled and got the lead right back on free throws. Jaila Harding made a layup and drew a foul going into a break.
The Cheerleaders handed out “Tiny Pete” figures on cardbacks in the timeout. I sort of want one, but not enough to take a day off this coming Friday to go to Baseball for the giveaway. Back to play, Molly made an assist to Lucia for a layup. Sy and Madi combined on a steal. The Aggies ran a rare trap on defense. Sy then made a great offensive rebound. Molly had a steal and made a pass downcourt to Madi for a layup. Fanta was fouled on a shot. She missed both free throws. Madi got the rebound on the second miss, but the Aggies didn’t score. They were up 15-14 after 10 minutes.
Second Quarter
Sy found Fanta under the basket for another layup. However, the Aggies had a bad inbounds and Coach Adams called a quick timeout to chew out the team. The Sundancers performed in the break. One of the girls lost an earring. She went to the ref to ask for time, but one of the other girls quickly found it.
Sianny Sanchez-Oliver had a steal and Molly drove the lane for a layup. Sianny had another steal that led to a Molly jump shot. 21-14 Aggies with 7 minutes left. Madi missed a three, got the rebound, and then missed the layup. It wasn’t her day for shooting. (Still looked good.) SH took a timeout and Wave the Wonder Dog came up on the video board. He looked happy today taking in a game.
Sianny had another steal. No points came off it, though. Lucia initially picked up her third foul, but on review, it was given to Fanta, her second. Molly made a layup and drew a foul, but uncharacteristically missed the free throw. Jaila got the rebound off the miss, but no points were scored.
Lucia definitely picked up her third foul with a reach in. Then, Jaila was called for a foul. In rapid succession, Fanta got her third foul. This finally got a “Boo!” out the crowd. That was all on one trip downcourt and it was a costly one. Bearkat Deborah Ogayemi made two free throws. She has an odd hop and step to the side for her shooting motion on free throws.
Sy and Fanta Kone went down together hard under the basket. They were both laid out flat. Their teammates were worried, but they were okay. Molly drew another foul and converted on the free throws. During the throws, Madi was called over by an assistant coach for a chat, but wasn’t taken out. 27-17 Aggies with 3 minutes left.
Imani Warren was in with Lucia and Fanta sitting out with foul trouble. Loes found her under the basket for a layup. The Aggies were loving that play. Imani made another layup on a fast break and it was, 31-17 Aggies with 2 minutes left. Anna Csenyi and Marta Guilera came in. Marta got a rebound. Imani was fouled late in the quarter. The video board had a close up of her at the line and showed her getting hit in the face as the ref tossed her the ball. Ouch. Aggies up 34-20 at the half.
Halftime
As the team left the court, they high-fived a (mostly) girls dance team, who performed for the halftime show. There was one little, bitty girl that was too cute trying to dance with the other little girls. The older girls performed next and were a bit more coordinated.
A group of women boosters were then honored on court. Mrs. Hubbard was given a framed jersey. PA Ed announced that she is 97 years old! God bless her. She gets around just fine and is plenty lively.
Third Quarter
During player warm-ups, Madi came over to the sideline tables and said, “Hi,” to a little girl dressed as a cheerleader. Jaila was blocked on her first shot, but came back with a 3. I think that was the second 3 of the game. 37-24 Aggies with 7 minutes left. Ogayemi stole an Aggie inbounds. On that play, her teammate, Nyla Inmon, took a hit to her left arm. She was in some considerable pain and had to come out. Nyla had taken four foul shots in this quarter to this point.
Sy fought her way to the basket for a layup to make it 41-28 Aggies with 6 minutes left. Lucia picked up her fourth foul on defense. Nyla came back in. Maybe she’d just taken a hit to her funny bone. The Aggies started scuffling. It was 41-32 Aggies at the 5 minute timeout. The Bearkats were already in the bonus with the Aggies at 5 fouls. The crowd was yelling. Mother Hubbard was up and shouting.
Meanwhile on the road, the Men’s game at Sam Houston ended with a 76-69 loss. They’d been down, at times double-digits, all game. Late, they’d gotten within 2, but a clutch 3 put them back down for good. I think Jack said before the game that the Aggies haven’t beaten Sam Houston on the road yet.
On the next two Aggie possessions, they had their inbounds pass stolen again and then had a shot clock violation. Finally, Molly stepped up with a block and a layup. She then made a great move to the basket for another layup. Loes followed that with a Euro-step layup. Molly made a great leaping rebound on the final shot of the quarter. Aggies up, 47-36.
Fourth Quarter
The little girl in the cheerleader outfit won the Fan of the Game award. She ended up on camera several times during the game. Marta got into the scoring column after missing three free throws, but finally sinking the last one. On the other end, SH made three passes under the basket for a layup.
Lucia fouled out. Nyla hit a jumper at the shot clock buzzer to close the score to 48-42 Aggies with 7 minutes left. Molly came back with a 3, also at the buzzer. Fanta found Sianny, who cut right through the lane, for a layup. 53-44 Aggies with 5 minutes left.
Fanta made a steal. Sy put in a 3. Whitney Dunn fouled out for the Bearkats, as Molly took another charge. Sianny, probably the shortest player on the court, made a leaping steal of a high crosscourt pass. Unfortunately, the Aggies lost another inbounds, but the Bearkats threw it away. Bearkat Aysia Ward-Strong fouled out.
Senior Noah Garcia came into the game with 50 seconds left. The crowd rose when they thought Molly was coming out. Too bad she didn’t, because Molly took a cheapshot on an inbounds. She was okay, but out of it for a few seconds. Jaila fouled out. There were a lot of fouls in this game.
Our final senior, Diarrah Sissoko, came in with 43 seconds left. Molly finally did come out to a standing ovation. When she was at the bench, she gave a big smile and wave when they put her on the video board. Madi huddled the team up on court for a talk. She’s already looking like a leader on the team. Aggies win, 65-56!
For Sam Houston, Nyla Inmon was the high-scorer of the game with 24 points and that was with an injured arm in the second half. Deborah Ogayemi had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Kyleigh McGuire had 10 rebounds. Those are good-looking stats, but overall, the Bearkats were 28% shooting and 0 for 10 taking 3’s. (Ouch!)
For the Aggies, Molly Kaiser had 20 points, Sylena Peterson had 9 points, and Imani Warren had 7 points. There were several other Aggies chipping in with points. They were 44% shooting, 4 for 12 on 3’s, and a low 60% on free throws. They also had 21 points off of turnovers and 14 fast break points. With this win, the Aggies get a bye at the C-USA tournament next week.
Senior Ceremony
Nine seniors were graduating today. (There’s only 15 players total on the team.) They were Loes Rozing, Sylena Peterson, Molly Kaiser, Jaila Harding, Sianny Sanchez-Oliver, Fanta Gassama, Diarrah Sissoko, Tylie Jones, and Noah Garcia. Framed jerseys were put on easels for them and the girls walked out with friends and family. A couple of players walked out with teammates. Freshmen Madi and Emma Dasovich were the only ones just observing the ceremony.
The seniors seemed to be announced in random order. Molly had some impressive accomplishments, as she is currently third all-time in the scoring for the Aggies and has averaged 20 points a game this season to lead the conference. As a Grad student, she must have gotten a jersey last year, as Molly got a framed photograph this time. Sylena came out with the biggest entourage. Fanta and Noah had the most tears, though Noah was also laughing.
One of the easels got knocked over during the group picture, but the frame seemed okay after the fall. Molly was first to help put it back up. Afterward, the team went around the sidelines as usual to shake hands with the fans. (I’m too shy to go down there to participate.) Molly signed a Tiny Pete package for a little boy and gave Adam a big hug.
I’d been craving a hamburger and went to Burger King after the game. It turned out the good coupon I had was expired. How embarrassing. I got a Whopper at regular cost. It was okay, though I might have made a different choice in restaurants if I’d known I was going to be paying full price. Now, it’s just Baseball and Softball, which might not be great next weekend with more wind in the forecast.