Okay, this time an actual game report, as opposed to last time. Long story short, I got a new car and everything’s fine. I took the car to work and it was like I’d brought a unicorn. “A new car? A “new” new car?” Nobody could believe it given how long I’d had my truck. I’m also not sure if any of them had ever seen a new car. (It does have the new car smell.) It’s a pretty Nissan Versa and it was the salesman’s first sale at the dealership. I’m terribly nervous every time I drive down the street and whenever I leave the car alone, but I’m sure I’ll get over it.
I’ll do a quick Aggie Sports recap. On Thursday, the Aggies played FIU. The Men played on the road and had a bruising game against the Panthers, but won 59-52. Four Aggies were in double figures in scoring. The Women won more handily, 74-50. Molly Kaiser had 28 points and Jaila Harding had 18.
It was a nice day when I left for the Pan-Am Center, which turned into a hard, cold windy day when I got there five minutes later. I was a bit underdressed, so I walked inside quickly. I got my first view of the Liberty Flames. The girls looked tall, especially a couple of them. One of their assistant coaches towered over everybody. She was shockingly tall. I wasn’t sure what kind of crowd would show up with the Chiefs playing a playoff game today, but it was pretty good at 593. Still, it somehow felt different without Mario Moccia as the Athletic Director. Though he probably would have been on the road with the Men’s team, the whole program feels leaderless now.
This was the Pat Summitt tribute game for Alzheimer’s Awareness. There were a couple of videos shown during the game with Coach Adams and Molly talking about their experiences. Obviously, the Coach feels pretty strongly about this being that the disease was what took her former coach, whom she’d won a national championship with.
During player introductions, we were introduced to Liberty’s 6’5” center, Bella Smuda. And in addition, yikes! We met Elisabeth Aegisdottir from Iceland, pictured above. Whew! How dare the enemy be that beautiful! PA Ed did an admirable job pronouncing her name during the game. The Aggie starters were introduced and threw out a large volume of souvenir balls, but that was only a minor distraction from Elisabeth. (Actually, the Hot Pan-Am Girl, Megan (?), was there on the sidelines. She looked like she was in charge of running the show. She was a distraction.)
First Quarter
I only missed one basket by Molly on the scorecard. That was pretty good given the amount of scoring. The Flames scored immediately. The Aggies’ big, Fanta Gassama, took a shot under the basket right after. It was casually swatted away by Bella. That seemed like a bad sign.
Molly came back with an early 3. She also got a layup off of a great assist by Fanta. However, Bella was towering over everyone in the lane with a layup and a rebound. She was fouled and dropped in 2 free throws like she was tossing coins into a bucket. It was the worst case scenario: a big player that could make free throws. Still, Sianny Sanchez-Oliver, giving up a full foot to Bella, did successfully fight her for a rebound.
Fanta adjusted her game and went around Bella for a layup. The Aggies started defending better inside and full-court trapping when Liberty had the ball, so the Flames went to the perimeter. Liberty hit back-to-back 3’s. They were leading 15-13 going into a Media break with 4 minutes left. Molly already had 9 points.
I should mention, the crowd and the Band were into the game. It was heartening to see. Bella came out, but was replaced by Liberty’s other center, 6’3” Emmy Stout. Sianny got hammered going to the basket. She missed both free throws. On the next trip down, Sianny laid out on the floor for a rebound.
Loes Rozing grabbed a rebound, but tripped going down court and was called for traveling. Liberty hit another 3. Loes responded with a 3, but Bella was back in and hit two short jumpers. She easily shot over the defenders. 24-18 Liberty after 10 minutes.
Second Quarter
Bella was fouled to start the quarter and easily swished another pair of free throws. Lucia Yenes came in to work the defense. She drew a foul on Bella, which sent the center to the bench. Imani Warren also came in for the Aggies. She drew a foul, but missed both free throws. The Flames’ other center, Emmy, picked up her third foul and had to come out.
Liberty went “small,” but their outside shooters came up big with another 3. 29-20 Liberty with 7 minutes left. Jaila answered back with a 3, which brought on another Flames’ 3. Going into the Media timeout, it was 32-25 Liberty with 4 minutes left. A local beer sponsor came on the video board. The Band chanted, “Beer! Beer! Beer!” Barbara “Mother” Hubbard was behind the Aggie bench. She was chanting, as well. Err. . . Not “Beer,” but for the Aggies.
Liberty popped another 3. Maybe the better strategy would have been to not get their inside players into foul trouble. Loes came back with an Aggie 3. Okay, I’m going to mention Elisabeth, my Scandinavian ice queen. She got an offensive rebound and a stickback. She fouled Molly hard at the other end to put the Aggies in the bonus. Molly, of course, dropped in her throws. Unfortunately, with around a minute left in the quarter, Liberty put in three straight 3’s. It was 46-32 Liberty at the half.
Halftime
There was a “Grand in the Stands” $1,000 giveaway for the students at the half. A guy in the Band won. Hey, I think I’ve seen this happen before. (I’m not going to look it up.) Dance Cam was activated. Audience participation had not been required up to this point. For other entertainment, clips from the movie, Air Bud, were shown.
Third Quarter
The fans seemed a little more unruly to start this quarter. A guy behind me was yelling at the refs, “Let me be more succinct, Boo!” Loes was called for a pushing foul, though Molly ended up on the floor. This brought out some more boos. Molly was undaunted. She got a layup and a foul and then a steal with a coast-to-coast layup. The score wasn’t improving. Liberty was up 52-39 with 5 minutes left.
The Flames and Sylena Peterson traded 3’s. During the Media timeout, a guy Cheerleader dressed up in a banana suit and the other Cheerleaders handed out Bundt cakes to the crowd. I don’t remember what the banana suit had to do with that. Back to play, Loes made a steal. Molly hit a jumper on the possession, after breaking the ankles of her defender.
Diarrah Sissoko and a Liberty player nearly came to blows fighting over a rebound. The Aggies forced a turnover and went to a full court press. The pace of play picked up and kept the crowd in it. Molly was fouled again and made her free throws. The Aggies were stuffed on their final shot. It was 63-51 Liberty with 10 minutes left to play.
Fourth Quarter
Simba Cam was activated. The Band held up their instruments. A girl held up a stuffed animal. Another girl held up a baby doll. A guy lifted his girlfriend. Okay people, I don’t think you all quite understand the purpose of this: you’re supposed to be holding up your baby child. Cameramen, focus on parents with little children.
Fanta again went around Bella for a layup. Sy managed a steal. Fanta wrestled a rebound away from Bella, but the possession ended with a shot clock violation. There’s my Elsa again, Elisabeth, with another offensive rebound and a layup. Let it go! (If only she had her hair in a long braid and was wearing a dress.)
Fanta had a steal. After a Media timeout, she got a quick layup on the inbounds. Molly had a steal and a layup and then took a charge in the lane. Timeout Liberty, up 74-65 with 2 minutes left. Sy and Molly managed to turnover a Liberty inbounds, but Molly was massively rejected on a shot by Bella. “No, no, no,” the center said wagging her finger. (No, that did not actually happen. It would have been merited.)
At this point, the Aggies began intentionally fouling. They were down by 9 with a minute left, but that was as close as it got. Elisabeth’s knee was cut. She came out to have it bandaged, but came back in. The crowd, which had been very faithful up to this point, did start to leave. Maybe that wasn’t the worst idea. All of the timeouts by both teams got used in this space for some reason.
This really dragged the game out, even though it wasn’t close given the amount of time left. The only play of note was Bella and everyone else thought she’d gotten a layup and a foul, but was actually called for traveling. She was even standing at the foul line waiting for the ball. Our final was 82-72 Liberty.
It was a loss, but against a good team. The action in the game, except for the final minute, was actually pretty entertaining. I don’t think the crowd felt cheated. The Flames were up 54% to 41% in shooting and 55% to 37% in shooting 3’s. However, I’m sure the Coach will be harping on one particular stat: the Flames were up 32 to 18 in rebounds.
Bella Smuda led the Flames with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Jordan Hodges, a foot shorter than Bella, had 13 points and 8 rebounds. Emma Hess had 13 points. Elisabeth Aegisdottir scored 6 and had 7 rebounds. She was pretty tough getting her nose in there for the rebounds. (She looked very serious out there playing, my Ice Queen.)
For the Aggies, Molly Kaiser did all she could with 31 points. (Honestly, I came to this game to see Molly. Elisabeth was a nice bonus, though.) Jaila Harding had 10 and Sylena Peterson had 9. Fanta Gassama led the Aggies with 7 rebounds. She had 6 points. In a rematch, I think they need to figure out how to get her more shots.
After the game, I went to Chik-fil-a, which I’d wanted to do since last week. It was even better than I’d imagined. I was home in time hear the Aggie Men play Liberty on the road, but had other things going on and off-and-on listened to the game. They fell 68-60. Christian Cook had a good game and two other Aggies were in double digits, but overall the team only shot 36%. The next Women’s game will be in a couple weeks and Softball starts shortly thereafter.
