Since that crushing loss to UTEP, the Aggie Women’s Basketball team has won at home against Kennesaw State, 52-40. The Owls had a 20-11 lead after the first quarter (starting off at 15-2), but were held to single-digits totals for the next three quarters. Lucia Yenes led with 21 points. Freshman Senoj Jones had 14 and Lucia Lara had 10 rebounds. I’m glad to see Lucia L. in there and doing well and Senoj has future star potential. The Aggies forced 27 turnovers and 14 team steals (3 by Emma Christiano along with 4 assists). Iyana Beh even scored on a free throw. (I’m rooting for her, too.)
Meanwhile, the Aggie Men’s Basketball team was playing WKU on the road and lost badly, 93-70. I missed the beginning of the game coverage on the radio. I only missed the Hilltoppers getting out to a 17-0 start. After the game, Coach Hooten didn’t want to talk about it. Two Aggies had good games, at least: Juice Mims scored 13 points with 10 rebounds and Jae’Coby Osborne had 12 points and 9 rebounds.
The Men played Middle Tennessee on the road in the morning before the Women would play here. I’d be lying if I said I was listening to the game on the radio. I did check in here and there. The Aggies were up 14 points into the second half. When I finally started really listening, it was down to a 3-point lead in the closing minutes. A Jemel Jones’ 3 briefly made it a 6-point lead, but the Blue Raiders would tie it in the final seconds. The Aggies had the last shot, but missed it. It was 76 all going to OT.
The refs waved off a goaltending call that would have given the Aggies a lead. The Aggies were down by 1 in the final seconds and missed the last shot. 86-85 MT final. Jemel led the Aggies with 34 points, which is kind of awesome. Unfortunately, he missed a couple of shots at the wrong time. Three other Aggies players were in double figures shooting. Coach Hooten seemed rather cavalier in the interview afterward.
I took right off after that game to the Pan-Am Center for the final Aggie Women’s home game against Jax State. Charming Sydney McIntosh again greeted me inside the door. She was signing up people for a Harlem Globetrotter ticket giveaway. I told her I’d already seen them here as a kid in the 70’s. In other words, let some other kid see them.
The Roadrunner Revue band, Pistol Pete (the one without the mustache, the other one is still undergoing therapy because of the Oklahoma fans), the Cheerleaders, and the Sundancers were all present. It didn’t seem like the crowd showed up, but officially it was 904. I have to question that number just from eyeballing it and from being at last week’s rivalry game against UTEP, which was only listed at 712. The steam cannons from that game were still set up and I appreciated the musical cues from the PA to start this game. All I could think of, though, was that I was missing a NASCAR race for this.
First Quarter
The scorecard added up correctly the first time. Given this was a low-scoring game, I should have gotten the scoring right this late in the season, but it’s always a challenge. Imani Warren was not starting for the Aggies, but was in the lineup to play. This seemed like a troubling sign. Lucia L. started in her place.
The Aggie defense forced two turnovers without a shot on the Gamecocks’ first two possessions. Emma found Senoj for the first points of the game. To this point, it all seemed normal. What was more indicative were the misses that followed by both teams. Eventually, Senoj made a jumper and it was 4-1 Aggies with 5’ left in the quarter.
Imani finally came in after a timeout. Lucia L. missed a couple of shots, but was pulling down some rebounds. She grabbed one reaching over a defender’s head. Morane Dossou came in and grabbed a couple of quick rebounds. Mina Djurojevic came in for the Cocks. She was a tall, pretty Serbian with hypnotically silky blonde hair. Adriana Jones put the Cocks up 4-6 with a 3 with 1’ left. That would be how the first quarter ended . . . with 10 combined points. There were a couple of guys doing running commentary behind me. Their summation was, “The refs are winning.” There were several fouls on the Aggies in the quarter.
Second Quarter
The Sundancers performed during the break. It was a surprising routine with a lot of ballet mixed in. I should have guessed these girls all had had ballet training. The Band gave them an extra cheer when they came back to the sidelines. Lucia L. picked up a second quick foul and came out for Nikki Stanic. She blocked a shot.
Statler and Waldrof behind me commented, “How long do you think they can go without scoring? That was a worthwhile question. The Cocks had put in a few baskets, but the Aggies couldn’t buy one. Finally, Deavion Hudson came in and hit a layup to make it, 6-11 JS with 7’ left in the quarter. I think that was 8 minutes without a basket.
After that, the Aggies got called for offensive fouls on their next two possessions. The crowd was getting unruly towards the refs. They picked up another foul on their next possession. Anna Csenyi was called for a second foul. Both times, she was shocked and pointed to herself, “Who? Me?” The crowd was booing.
In the stoppage, a guy rolled for the Monopoly game. Instead of winning money, he got Go To Jail result. The crowd booed more. Quick, send the Cheerleaders out to throw more souvenirs to the crowd. Yay! They were cheering again. Before play resumed, the Band started chanting, “We want new refs!”
Emma put up a jumper to make it, 8-15 JS with 3’ left. Imani drew a foul going to the basket. The crowd was amazed to finally get a call their way. She made both free throws. 10-17 JS 2’ left. Emma made a bounce pass to Morane for a layup. Lucia L. made a bunny at the rim. Cocker Mya Barnes made a block on Morane. Imani made a layup on the Aggies’ last possession. However, the Aggies finished the half down, 16-23.
Halftime
Okay, this was new. A dance group performed for halftime, but it was a group of middle aged dancers. It was sort modern and sort of ballroom and well done. They performed a long routine and were into it. A couple of the Sundancers were watching and appreciated the effort. One of the dancer ladies was wearing a mask. I have to question this woman being involved in this activity when she’d surely be safer locked up at home.
I went to the bathroom. I considered changing seats so that I could watch a game playing on a TV in one of suites. Maybe it’d be a better game. I noticed Mia Fox and Zoe Ziegler in the crowd representing Aggie Volleyball. The team’s been pretty faithful supporting the girls.
Third Quarter
Emma took a charge in the lane from a much bigger girl. It wouldn’t be an Aggie game without Emma hitting the deck on a charge. Lucia hit an open jumper to make it, 20-23 with 8’ left in the quarter. It seemed like the Aggies were about to make a game of it, but this would actually be as close as it got.
Anna took another foul from forcing a Cocker into the sideline table on a fast break. “Good foul,” said the guys behind me. Barnes hit a 3 and suddenly it was, 22-33 JS with 6’ left. (Obviously, they scored a few more times than that.) In the timeout, Coach Adams and Emma started going at it on court. It was not an insignificant argument. At the beginning of the season, Emma was going over to the Coach for guidance in every stoppage. What is going on here? Before play resumed, the Aggie girls had a long huddle on court.
Lucia found Senoj under the basket for a layup. Adriana Jones made a 3 for the Cocks, but Anna replied with an Aggie 3. Still, it was 27-36 JS with 3’ left. The margin increased to 27-40 with 2’ left, when a timeout was called. In the break, a girl played the card match game and won. It was surprising because she was so disinterested while doing it. The guys behind me were shouting, “Faster!” The girl came back to her seat profoundly unhappy. Was she forced into it or didn’t like the free tickets as a prize?
Iyana came into the game and would make a block. Lucia L. made a block. Anna hit another 3. The refs missed an obvious travel call and set the crowd off again. It was 30-47 JS going into the final quarter.
Fourth Quarter
The crowd was just mad at everyone now. Thank goodness Wave the Wonder Dog didn’t show up for this game. He didn’t need to see this. Iyana fought for a rebound and got it, but the Aggies turned it over anyway on a foul by Imani. Coach Adams had sent out a strange lineup to start the fourth without a point guard. It was as confused as you’d think on two possessions. Emma was put back in. Imani came out in an obviously very bad mood.
The crowd was becoming ominously quiet as the score was getting worse. Senoj got the rebound on a missed 3 and put it in for a layup. Mina got smacked down hard to the court on the play. She had to come out and was walking off slowly. Barnes put in another 3. She was completely wide open for the entire possession. I can’t believe it took several passes for the Cocks to find her. Even I saw she unguarded. 34-52 JS 6’ left in the game.
The pretty Aggie trainer was complaining at the refs for a Travel call. She was still into the game. I’ll miss seeing her. During a timeout, PA Ed thanked Aggie Nation for their support this season. Issuing a heartfelt apology for this game would have also been in order. Forget NASCAR, I’m missing Gilmore Girls right now for this. (I started watching this show on the weekends. I really can’t explain why.) Even the two JS parents in the crowd were clearly not entertained by this game.
For some reason, both coaches called timeouts in the final minute. I think Coach Adams meant to do something with the seniors, but I don’t think it happened. One good thing came of it, Abril Ricart-Mensah came in off the deep bench for the Cocks. She was very pretty. Well, that was the final highlight. Aggies lose 38-57.
This was an entirely winnable game. The Gamecocks were not that good a team and didn’t even play that well today. This isn’t sour grapes; the Aggies were just that bad. The Cocks shot 37% to the Aggies’ 28% and 31% to 16% on 3’s. A lot of JS’ 3’s came when the team was already well up and the Aggies couldn’t answer. The Cocks shot 90% on their free throws for 18 points. This is significant because JS was called for 9 fouls, while the Aggies were called for 23. Maybe the crowd was right about the refs. (Maybe the Aggies completely broke down in discipline.)
Mya Barnes led Jax State with 13 points. Adriana Jones had 12 points and Kyera Thornsbury had 11. For the Aggies, Senoj Jones at least had a good game with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Morane Dossou only had 2 points, but pulled down 11 rebounds. Anna Csenyi had 8 points with two 3’s and was hustling.
I’m not criticizing all the players’ efforts, but if Lucia Yenes or Imani Warren aren’t scoring, the Aggies aren’t winning. The Coach wasn’t even putting them in that much. The lineups out on the floor seemed almost random at times. There’s clearly some kind of friction between Coach Adams and some of the players. I’d suspect a house cleaning of players in the offseason. I didn’t see AD Fields at the game, but if he was or had been there, I could see him cleaning out the coaching staff, too.
It just felt like the whole team and the Coach quit, not on playing hard, but on each other and the fans. I didn’t want it to end like this. I’m already planning on not getting an Aggie Country Pass next season, but I thought I might come back for a couple of Women’s Basketball games to see Emma as a senior. Now, I’m washing my hands of this.
The team went around the sidelines. Lucia L. was in tears going around greeting fans. Poor thing. She was playing hard. Next season, some of those missed shots will drop for her. I just don’t know if she’ll be playing for the Aggies. On the way out, I was behind a family with a little girl wearing a giveaway t-shirt several sizes too big for her and holding souvenir ball. She had a good time, at least.
I’d like to report on having a good a good dinner, but my grilled cheese sandwich with macaroni from Roni’s wasn’t that great. It was kind of flavorless and irritated my stomach. This week at work I had a Jimmie John’s sub with my name on it and a leftover jug of McAlister’s sweet tea stolen from the fridge from me. It’s been that kind of week.
I again decided to miss the Aggie Baseball nightcap. It was a nice night, but I didn’t want to go to another game, especially since I could listen to it on the radio. Adam Young, who was calling the basketball game for TV, also called the Baseball game. He’s got stamina. Anyway, I’m done with Aggie Basketball for the season unless they give me a good reason to write about them.
No comments:
Post a Comment