NM State Aggie Football and Men’s Basketball November, 25, 2017

During the Aggie Coaches Show, Men’s Basketball Coach, Chris Jans, made two honest pleas for Aggie fans to go to the football game on Saturday.  According to the radio call, there was a great crowd on hand for a late November game for Aggie Football versus the Idaho Vandals.  That is to say, it wasn’t a great crowd, but relatively speaking, there were more fans than usual for this time of year.  Later, running back Larry Rose III said he was impressed with the fan support.  Certainly, it couldn’t have been a more beautiful afternoon in Las Cruces and this was a meaningful game with the Aggies needing to win their last two games to be bowl eligible.        

With Tyler Rogers still injured, Nick Jeanty would be starting at quarterback.  He got his chance early.  An interception by Leon McQuaker on first Vandal drive, led to a Larry Rose III touchdown on a short field, 7-0 Aggies.  Idaho had more troubles.  They fumbled deep in their own territory which was recovered by Shamad Lomax.  Larry Rose added another touchdown for a 14-0 lead.  The Aggie offense got a long drive on their next possession, but that ended on a blocked field goal.  For the second quarter, the Vandals missed a field.  The Aggies then fumbled the ball on their end of the field, which was converted to an Idaho touchdown, 14-7. 

In the third quarter, the Aggies had another field goal attempt blocked.  Clearly the Aggies have some work to do on special teams.  The Vandals would convert on a field goal in the quarter, 14-10.  The Aggies would finally get a field goal in the fourth, 17-10.  The Vandals gave the Aggies a short field again on a bad punt, but Jeanty was intercepted in the endzone to end that drive.  Idaho had the ball inside of five minutes left.  They converted on one fourth down, but with three minutes left, the Aggie defense made a stop on another one.  The crowd was going nuts at this point.  The Vandals had a final drive.  The last play of the game was a Jaden Wright interception to seal the 17-10 Aggie victory. 

The Aggie defense definitely showed up for this game and closed it out.  They had 11 sacks.  The offense had problems as the game went along.  Jeanty’s arm wasn’t able to stretch the defense, so the Vandals were able to figure them out pretty quickly.  Those short fields they gave the Aggies really helped.  Okay, one game left at home and it’s a must win for the team to finally have a chance to go bowling.

It’s an Aggie triple-header here.  After this morning’s Women’s basketball game and this afternoon’s football, the Aggie Men’s basketball team would be playing the UTEP Miners tonight.  Jack Nixon, calling the football and the men’s basketball, is going to have to rest his voice after today.  The lower bowl was again full, like for the Lobo game (11-17-17).  Athletic Director Mario Moccia was very happy with that night’s attendance, especially with the students on break.  Many of them stayed in town to root on the team.  They may have been here again tonight.

It was a defensive fight to start with some poor shooting.  About halfway through the first half, the Aggies went on an 8-point run, but it was still tight.  One memorable play of the first half was Eli Chuhua making three attempts with two offensive boards, but it was Johnny McCants finishing it off with a jam.  Even apart from being a local kid, McCants is becoming a favorite.  He also had a great block this half.  Late, the Aggies went on a 10-point run.  It was 29-22 Aggies at the half.

To start the second, the Miners would tie it up and make it close.  The Aggies would go on a 9-point run with a pair of three’s.  McCants again had a two-hand jam to get the crowd worked up.  Late, the Miners started drawing a lot of fouls and going to the line, but the Aggies kept scoring.  The game went up tempo briefly and the Aggies took advantage of it to pad their lead.  The Miners were reduced to fouling in the final minute, but it was too late.  72-63 Aggies.  Stat of the game: UTEP had no offensive rebounds.  The teams face off next week in El Paso.  Jack brought up a silly issue in the pre-game; the programs disagree over their all-time records against one another, so who knows what it is.      

NM State Aggie Women’s Basketball November 24-25, 2017

I missed the ladies’ Monday home game win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.  I was really busy coming back to work from vacation and didn’t expect a Monday game.  I still feel bad about it.  It was a good, close win.  I was able to catch their next two games, which were part of the UTEP Thanksgiving Classic invitational in El Paso.  The Aggies would not be playing UTEP in either of these games, however.  I listened to these games over the radio.      

I was busy in the morning on Black Friday after Thanksgiving.  While I was back in time to start watching a morning hockey game before the basketball, I was so busy with housekeeping duties, I basically wasn’t able to watch.  This was too bad, since it was a great game between the Bruins and Penguins.  The Bruins took it 4-3 with a third period goal.  I saw one of the players give his stick away to the crowd at the end of the match.  Meanwhile on another station, unranked Pitt, having a losing season, beat #2 and undefeated Miami 24-14 in college football.  Crap!  I just lost $10,000 on that “sure thing.”  Just kidding, but that was interesting to watch the end of.

The Aggies’ game was against the Texas Southern Tigers.  I don’t know anything about them.  Whenever I think I’ve heard of every college team, a new one to me pops up to play the Aggies.  In the first quarter, the Aggies came out hot and getting turnovers.  They went up by 9 at one point, but the Tigers came back and ended up equal in turnovers.  17-14 Aggies after 10 minutes.  For the second, both teams came out cold with lots more turnovers and misses.  25-24 Aggies.

Gia Pack came out firing in the third, and the Aggies went up by 7.  Brooke Salas put in three three-pointers and the team went to a pressure defense.  It was actually quiet enough there that you could clearly hear Aggie Coach Atkinson on the sidelines.  (Thankfully, she didn’t say anything off-color.)  By the end of the quarter, the Aggies were up by 12, 46-34.  It was all looking good. 

Our final score was 66-50 . . . Texas Southern!  I don’t think Adam Young even gave the final score after the buzzer.  What the hell happened?  How do you lose by 16, when you’re up by 12 at the end of the third quarter?  I was listening and I can’t even tell you.  Well, Gia Pack and Monique Mills were hurt during the game, but I don’t think that was it.  The Coach was terse afterward, so there wasn’t much of an explanation there.  The Aggies won the turnover battle, but were -10 in rebounding.  Brooke Salas had 25 points to lead the Aggies.  Only four Aggies scored.  On the other side, two players were responsible for 53 of the Tigers’ points.  Let’s forget about this one and reset for tomorrow.

Okay, it’s tomorrow (Saturday).  The Aggies were facing the Arkansas Razorbacks.  They lost to UTEP on Friday.  The Razorbacks were down by 20 at one point, but came back in the fourth and only lost by 3.  In the first quarter, Brooke Salas came out shooting well, but picked up two fouls early and sat out the second quarter.  Jeneva Toilolo contributed well off the bench.  17-11 Aggies.  The Razorbacks made a bunch of uncharacteristic turnovers.  They were leading the nation in not making turnovers.  Both teams came out pretty cold in the second, but the Aggies held the lead, 25-23.

In the third, the Razorbacks found their shot and went up by 11.  It was 47-40 Arkansas after 30 minutes.  The fourth was hard-fought.  Jeneva got a big basket to cut the lead to 2.  Zaire Williams made a near half-court shot in the last minute to cut it to 6, but the final was 69-60 Razorbacks.  Gia Pack was the Aggie high-scorer.  Brooke was second with a double-double.  For these two games, the Aggies just didn’t have a closeout defense to finish off their opponents.  They’re going to have to work on that.    

Right after the game, I turned over to KROD out of El Paso to see if the Miners were playing right afterward.  They were, but a half-hour later, which conflicted with Aggie Football.  I didn’t find out it was on until late in the third quarter.  While I had a rooting interest in the football, the basketball game was probably better.  If only one could know ahead of time when a sporting event was going to be interesting.  UTEP and Texas Southern were tied halfway through the fourth, but the Miners pulled ahead and won 65-55.  It sounded like there was a good, enthusiastic crowd there for the game.  The Lady Miners are 4-0 on the season so far.

NASCAR Recap November 19, 2017

I sort of meant to cover NASCAR’s Championship race at Homestead-Miami today.  The big news was that this was Dale Earnhardt Jr’s last race before retirement.  He might race a bit more, but not full-time.  I started this blog (actually on Myspace) doing NASCAR recaps and covering his ascendancy.  It felt like I should put a coda on it.  Unfortunately, I was at the hospital with my dad.  We watched a bit, but never got into it. 

Later at home, I ended up watching Stadium’s coverage of the Patriot League Volleyball Championship during the early part of the race.  American University beat Navy in straight sets.  This might be my last volleyball match of the year, unless I run into some NCAA Tournament action.  Morgan Uber (I can’t get over that name) was working the sidelines during the match.  Afterward, she interviewed the tallest player on AU.  This girl must have been over 6’5”, because she was at least a foot-and-a-half taller than Morgan.  They made an odd couple on screen.

 

I suppose all I really have to say about Junior is that future NASCAR fans (that may be a presumptuous assumption right there, assuming there will be any) are going to wonder what the big deal was.  He didn’t win a championship or that many races.  All the gushing commentators could really say about him was that Junior had won the Most Popular Driver award fourteen years in a row.  It’s telling that that was his major accomplishment.  The one year he was really in championship contention, he cussed on-air in Victory Lane and was docked points.  It was all downhill after that.  (Getting caught in a fire inside a Corvette at an ALMS race didn’t help either.)  It’s almost impossible to overestimate Junior’s value in mainstreaming the sport.  It’s also just as hard to explain how that happened.            

On a similar note, Danica Patrick was also taking her last regular turn at the wheel.  She’d had sponsorship troubles this year that precipitated this early retirement.  “The Danica Experience,” as I called it, had its moments, but was mostly just about her, not her on-track accomplishments.  Meanwhile, Matt Kenseth too was leaving after this race.  Though still racing at a high-level, he couldn’t find sponsorship to pay him enough to keep him employed either.  I still blame his first championship season, where he only won one race, for foisting “The Chase” on us. 

Along with Carl Edwards’ sudden retirement and Jeff Gordon hanging it up recently, there are complex issues with this sport that are forcing drivers out.  I don’t have the inclination to bother discussing them.  I just don’t care.  Now there is a definite problem for the sport: a former huge fan, rendered apathetic.  Maybe next year, during the Daytona 500, I'll have more to say and maybe some pointless suggestions.

Congrats at least to Martin Truex Jr, an easy-to-like fellow.  It would have been a shame if the best driver this season didn’t win the championship because of the stupid, gimmicky championship format.  There was even some drama at the end, with Truex and Kyle Busch fighting for the race and championship win.  NASCAR got lucky there.  I guess we’ll see how NASCAR handles not having Junior around on track (he’ll be in the booth) next year.  

NM State Football Recap November 18, 2017

I took diligent notes during today’s football match up between the NM State Aggies versus University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns up until the fourth quarter.  That’s when my dad called and said he was going to the hospital.  If I’d thought to, I could have brought my little radio with me, but I was preoccupied.  So frankly, I don’t want to bother with the details now, especially given that it was a loss.  I’ll just go over some of the interesting bits that I heard.

        

There was a bit of controversy to start this game.  Earlier in the week, University Chancellor Garrey Carruthers questioned whether the football team would accept a bowl invitation if it involved lengthy travel and wasn’t sure they could meet ticket-selling obligations for it.  Athletic Director Mario Moccia had to do some immediate damage control during the football pre-game show.  They’d certainly go to any regional bowl game (like the Arizona Bowl or New Mexico Bowl).  Any invitation further away might require some fund-raising, since they’re on a tight budget, but they’d do it.  Of course, all this talk was premature. 

In the first half, the Aggie defense was nowhere to be found.  The Cajuns scored on every possession except one, a missed field goal.  They even pulled off a fake field goal to keep a drive going.  The Aggie offense in the first quarter was Jason Huntley scoring a touchdown on a kickoff return.  They did get going as the game wore on.  Quarterback Tyler Rogers picked up good yards running one drive.  Larry Rose III got a touchdown.  However, by halftime, it was 31-17 Cajuns.

During the game, Jack Nixon mentioned that the Aggie Women’s Basketball team lost to Lobos in Albuquerque.  This broke an Aggie sports’ winning streak against UNM this fall.  I was a bit annoyed there wasn’t any radio coverage of that game this afternoon.  According to paper, four of the Aggie starters had great games, but the team’s defense may not have been stiff enough.  This was also where I heard that the Aggie Volleyball team had lost in their tournament.  Jack, as always, was extremely complimentary of Coach Mike Jordan and his program.  During halftime, local theater owner and booster, Paul Allen, was a guest.  He talked about upcoming movies.  I got a chuckle when mentioned that his seats were comfortable enough that some people had taken “an expensive nap” in them.

Events started off well for the third quarter.  Rogers found Rose with a bomb that would later result in a touchdown.  The Cajuns put up another field goal, but Jason Huntley got in a couple of good runs and Rose scored another touchdown.  Unfortunately in this series, Rogers was shaken up on a play.  It was a shoulder injury that took him out for the rest of the game.  Nick Jeanty came in.  The Cajuns put up another field goal.  The Aggie defense gave up a fourth and six that kept that drive going.  On the next series, they did redeem themselves, by forcing the Cajuns to punt for the first time.

That first punt was shanked.  With a short field, the Aggie offense moved the ball inside the five, but had to settle for a field goal, but that did tie the score at 34-34.  From here, I was busy with real life.  Two Aggies on defense got ejected on next Cajun drive, which resulted in a touchdown.  The newspaper called it “questionable officiating.”  That seemed like a turning point.  I was somewhat glad I didn’t get to hear the rest, as Jeanty threw three interceptions, probably trying to force things.  The final was 47-34 Cajuns.

The Aggies need to win their last two games to be bowl-eligible.  They’re at home and playing two lousy teams.  Unfortunately, the Aggies are also a lousy team at this point and they may have lost Tyler Rogers.  I almost can’t bear to look at how this is going to finish out.   

NM State Men's Basketball Recap November 17, 2017

Let’s talk some Aggie Men’s Basketball.  I’ve listened to a couple of their games this season without taking any notes.  (Yes, I also listen to and watch sports just for fun or just to have something on.)  The team won against a slight foe and lost to a good one so far this season.  However, this game was serious.  All Aggie fans had this game circled on their calendar.  I was on vacation, but told that there was a buzz around work about this game.  Here it was.  This was the return of traitorous ex-Aggie coach, Paul Weir, and his new team, NM State arch-rival, the UNM Lobos to Las Cruces.  I’m told there was even some national interest in this game.  Nothing like a jilted fan-base to heighten a rivalry game. 

Though I could have gone, since I wasn’t working tonight, I didn’t even consider it.  I did not want to face the crowd and traffic by myself and didn’t want to try getting with anyone else to go.  I definitely planned on listening over the radio.  Imagine my surprise as I tuned in and heard the voice of the El Paso Chihuahuas, Tim Hagerty, doing the announcing.  It didn’t change my mind about going, but I was now really sorry I wasn’t there.  If possible, I would have loved to have met Tim and told him directly how much I enjoy his broadcasts. 

Usual Aggie Basketball announcer, Jack Nixon, was out-of-town to call Aggie Football on Saturday.  I’m sure he was hating missing this game.  Tim, of course, did a great job in his absence.  He brought up that this rivalry has been going on since 1904.  That first game was won by the Lobos, 21-9.  They might have been playing by some different rules back then, and the peach baskets probably kept getting dislodged every time they were hit by a shot. 

The surprises kept coming.  I had my TV on while listening to the radio.  While I was flipping channels at the beginning of the game, I suddenly ran into the game on the continuous weather network.  Last year, I saw an Aggie Women’s Basketball game on that station, so it wasn’t totally unprecedented, it just wasn’t on the TV schedule.  Maybe the crowd tonight was big enough to lift a local blackout.  Adam Young was doing the duties here.  Sorry Adam, I kept the radio on and TV muted.  There was a slight delay, but how often do I get to hear Tim Hagerty doing basketball?  Still, it was great to be able to watch (and made me really wish I was there).          

NM State did what they could to promote the game.  Free t-shirts and foam fingers were handed out before the game.  As Jack Nixon said during a previous game, “Come on out and show Paul your finger.”  Chik-fil-a was running a free sandwich promotion if the Lobos missed two free throws in a row.  There were even tailgaters reported in the parking lot in the afternoon.  The next day, Athletic Director Mario Moccia reported the crowd at 6,900.  Capacity at the Pan-Am Center is 12,500+ (according to program information).  From watching TV, the seats in the rafters weren’t filled, but everything in the lower bowl was.  And the crowd was into it.  A titanic “boo” greeted the Lobos onto the court.  Another went up when Coach Weir was introduced.            

Things were bad to start.  The Lobos went up 8-1.  The Aggies didn’t score a field goal until five minutes in, and it took four attempts on that possession to get it in.  However, events turned around quickly.  On two separate plays within minutes of each other, Sidy N’Dir fed an “alley oop” to Johnny McCants for a jam to get the score close.  The crowd was completely jazzed by the plays, even more so because McCants is a local kid on the team.  A couple of minutes later, N’Dir took one in himself on a drive and dunk to give the Aggies a 17-16 lead.

The game kept getting chippier as it went along.  Right before the half, the Aggies managed two steals on the same transition, but a Lobo player fell on top of the thieving Aggie player.  Another Lobo roughly brushed by the Aggie, which caused a retaliation, which was what the referees saw when they called a technical.  Upon review, they reversed the call.  I’m not sure what the final verdict was though.  It was 31-18 Aggies at the half.

  

The Old Man got on camera in the first half waving a sign.  There was another sign that read “Weir in good Jans with NM State,” referring to current Aggie coach, Chris Jans.  The Aggies were not great in the half-court offense, but were really good when running.  However, that wasn’t their game plan for tonight, since running was the Lobo’s preferred style.  Adam was surprised by the low score.  Given the teams, he was sure going in that somebody would score 100.  The Aggies were annoyingly missing on 50% of their free throws.  The Lobos were shooting 50% on field goals, so the Aggies were fortunate to have the lead. 

The Aggies started off the second half with three three-pointers in a row.  40-30 Aggies.  The only thing stopping the Aggies was a delay by the officials to pick up some discarded gum on the floor.  None of the players took responsibility.  The student section, many of whom were wearing surgical masks for some reason, chanted, “It was Paul.”

The Lobos went to a full-court press later in the half and took to shooting threes.  The Aggies kept playing patiently and were trying to draw fouls.  N’Dir got a steal and took a hard foul.  The referees were starting to get angry with the players’ aggressive play.  Words were exchanged between players after a contested rebound.  Technicals were called on both teams, but a Lobos player was ejected.  With the Aggies up late in the half, 59-49, the crowd really got into it.  Adam reported, “Lou Henson Court is shaking.” 

Both teams started going up tempo.  69-55 the Aggies got a layup.  A frustrated Paul Weir said the wrong thing to an official afterward and got “T’ed” up.  That didn’t help his team, but did delight the crowd.  At 73-55, the student section was jumping and cheering.  The game was well-enough in hand that the Coach put out the bench for the last minute.  Our happy totals are: Aggies 75, Lobos 56 or Aggie fans get revenge and Paul Weir has to take it.  Our stat of the game: Aggies +25 in rebounds.  The team walked up the into the student section to rousing congratulations on their way to the locker room.     

   

About halfway through the game, I remembered I’d picked up a leftover Men’s scorecard at a Women’s game.  I could’ve kept a scorecard for this game.  (Weird things make me happy.)  Zach Lofton was the Aggie high-scorer with 28 in any case.  The Aggie defense held the Lobos under 100, which the Lobos’ previous two opponents this season could not do.    Coach Jans credited the fans for their support tonight.  I couldn’t help but notice all the newspaper did before and after the game was run articles about Weir and put his photogenic picture with them.  Jans was the forgotten man in this affair. 

I was happy for an Aggie victory.  Hearing Tim Hagerty in the off-season was great.  Getting to watch the game on TV was an unexpected bonus.  There was a bit of a scheduling conflict late in the game.  As advertised earlier in the week, The Contest episode of Seinfeld came on another channel.  It was the twenty-fifth anniversary broadcast.  I remember watching when that episode came on originally.  It was definite “water-cooler” talk when I went to work later that night.  I still laughing so hard, I could barely tell my co-worker what happened in the episode.  

NM State Volleyball Recap November 9-17, 2017

11-9-17

Aggie Volleyball clinched the regular season championship tonight.  They won in five sets over Grand Canyon, while UTRGV lost in five against Bakersfield.  It was a great win also in that it broke the Aggies’ losing streak in five-set matches.  Megan Hart came up huge with 18 kills, almost certainly a career high.  She was swinging at a .500 clip in the match.  I just knew she’d unstoppable once she got going.  I mostly followed the match via Statcast.  The Grand Canyon Youtube video feed had some sort of problem, which was too bad because the production values of their broadcast looked pretty good.  The team still has one game left before the tournament.  Coach Jordan was ambiguous on the Aggie Coaches Show about how hard he’d play out that final game if he’d clinched the conference.  He wanted to win, but wanted to rest some of the girls.  We’ll see.

11-11-17

Aggie Volleyball finished out the regular season with a win at Bakersfield.  I didn’t see the game, but the newspaper account had the Aggies winning in straight sets.  Judging by the individual numbers listed, Coach Jordan went ahead and let the starters play, rather than rest them. 

So, the Aggies finished up number one in conference after losing their team captain, another starter, and a replacement starter during the season.  Before the WAC Tournament at the awards dinner, Coach Mike Jordan was an easy winner for Coach of the Year.  Ari Sierra won Libero of the Year.  KC Tohm was awarded the Conference Player of the Year award.  At the beginning of the season at the Scrimmage (8-19-17), I thought she’d end the year as high-scorer for the team, so this doesn’t surprise me at all.  Since the last game of last season, KC really stepped up with Jordan Abalos playing hurt and then going out and with Sasha-Lee Thomas also having limited playing time.       

Unfortunately on Friday (11-17-17), the Aggies played Bakersfield in the tournament semi-final and lost in four sets.  That was a tough draw, since they’d just played them a week before.  It’s also hard to beat a team three times in a season.  The newspaper reported that the Roadrunners had 8 aces in the match, but that was the only offered explanation.  I’m really proud of how the team played so well in the face of adversity this year. 

I also didn’t realize how attached I was to the seniors on this team until seeing their Senior Day ceremony (11-4-17).  I still can't believe that Jordan said in her speech that she was called "too small" and "not good enough" to play.  She was grateful that Coach Jordan "took a chance" on her.  Here I thought she'd sprung full-formed from his furrowed brow as the perfect volleyball player.  It’s going to be hard watching next year.  It was a bummer not getting to see Jordan play more, but I enjoyed seeing the other girls play well in her absence.  Next year will be interesting. 

NM State Aggies vs UT Permian Basin Falcons Women’s Basketball 11-14-17

Game #2 for the ladies.  This time they were playing the UT Permian Basin Falcons, a Division I team, on a Tuesday night.  Thanks to my vacation, I was able to attend.  I’m sure Coach Brooke Atkinson would have rather started the season with this game, than the Western Michigan Broncos (11-12-17).  The Aggies didn’t play a bad game against the Broncos, except for their shooting.  Even Brooke Salas’ team-leading 15 points in the game was off a 5 for 19 field shooting performance (thanks to the radio broadcast for that stat).  The coach said she was okay with the shots Brooke took; they just didn’t fall in for her.  The team actually started the season with a pair of closed scrimmages against other teams.  I wonder if that lack of playing in front of a crowd may have hurt them on Sunday.

If the crowd then was a little sparse then at 646 (according to tonight’s program), there might have been some cause for stage-fright on Tuesday as over 1,000 showed up.  Okay, many of the fans were little cheerleader girls, who were doing the halftime show, and their relations.  The Pan-Am parking lot was full when I got there.  At the start of the game, the little girls came down en mass in brightly colored, neon streams into the goal end seats. 

Speaking of relations, I got poked during the first quarter by a co-worker who was sitting behind me that I hadn’t seen.  She was there for her niece.  She apologized for interrupting me.  Yeah, there I was with my earpieces in, listening to the game, keeping a scorecard, and writing notes.  This reminds me of that Men’s game I went to last season (1-21-17), where a couple of other co-workers didn’t come by and say “Hi” because I looked “intense” watching the game.  It is a way different level of concentration than keeping a baseball scorecard.  Anyway, I tried talking to her for a minute, but it was almost impossible with the crowd and band noise.  I saw another co-worker go by and yelled and waved, but I couldn’t even hear myself.  Still, it’s a good thing to have a big crowd.

I had Adam Young and Nolan Fox in my ear for the game.  They did a good job and it was an enhancement, but again with the crowd noise, I ended up missing some interesting commentary about the team.  It ended up not helping me keep score when I couldn’t hear.  In the concourse, there were posters with Zaire Williams and Tonishia Childress to go with the Jasmine Cooper one released earlier.  Brooke Salas was on the pocket schedule.  Come on guys, you used the same picture of her from last year.  I’m still waiting for the poster. 

The guy cheerleaders had the large team flags to help bring out the team from the locker room.  The girl cheerleaders were up in the stands when play started.  There was a new PA for the game.  The voice was familiar though.  I think he does commercials for the university.  A lady with an extremely cute little dog was sitting down in front.  I really wanted to pet that dog.  Also of note, the band did a really good job on the Anthem tonight.     

        

First Quarter

This was the UTPB Falcons only game against a Division I opponent this season, so it was their big out-of-conference game.  Just to say, they’re a pretty nice-looking team and coach.  A couple of the girls wore their shorts hiked up, showing off their legs, which wasn’t a bad idea given how they looked.  The Aggies have another game against a DI team later this year.   

The referees seemed like they were in a hurry.  They started play before anybody other than the players were ready.  The Aggie fight song was still playing during the tip-off.  They did have to stop play early on as there were shot clock issues.  Pan-Am guys, get your act together for the games.  This is embarrassing.  At an early break, the PA announced that the cheerleaders were going to be throwing more stress balls into crowd, but play was once again started early and the promotion was canceled.  It was like the referees had a plane to catch.

Gia Pack started the game off well with a three on her first shot and two more buckets.  She’d go on to have a great game with 18, but I think that was her only three-point attempt.  I don’t know why she’s not doing the thing she was best known for last season.  Coach Atkinson started putting in the reserves early as the score became lopsided quickly.  Freshman Pam Wilmore came in and got a couple of buckets.  I like her hustle. 

The Falcons were firing a lot of air balls in the game.  The band taunting them about it seemed unnecessary.  Noise prevented me from really hearing the comment, but the guys mentioned there was a difference between DI and DII courts, that might have been causing them problems.  Nolan mentioned the Aggies weren’t getting a lot of rebounds with the misses, because it’s really hard to track an air ball.  28-11 Aggies after 10 minutes.

Second Quarter

This could be a problem for the rest of the season.  Coach Atkinson’s preferred spot to stand during the game is right in front of Adam and Nolan.  They did have trouble seeing a couple of plays and were dodging around her, trying to get a look.  Brooke took her first shot in the second quarter.  She made a three.  Unfortunately, she had a pretty quiet day and did not play much.  The guys were a bit disappointed, but fully expect her to be among the conference leaders in the scoring by the end of the season.  She still does it on defense.  On a trap, she got a steal, passed to Gia, who finished and got the foul.

Zaire Williams had a downright bad day.  She seems to be being groomed as a three-point shooter.  Zaire made one in the next quarter, but was 0 for 4 in this one.  UTPB did pick up their defense and shooting, but the Aggies really turned up their defense.  They were denying shots to the point of near shot clock violations.  47-26 Aggies.

Pistol Pete came by.  He chatted with a couple of older ladies in front of me.  They were actually there cheering on the other team.  They were from El Paso, but I’m not sure who of the four El Paso players on the Falcons they were there for.  The biggest cheer of the game from the crowd came when the Sundancers and the Aggie Cheerleaders came out on court during a break.  The little cheerleaders were impressed with them.

Halftime

The Razzle Dazzle Cheerleaders came out on court.  About half of their performance was just getting the enormous number of girls lined up and ready to go.  It’s a good thing I didn’t need to go to the bathroom, because I was surrounded by parents taking cellphone videos of the performance.  The little girls were adorable, of course.  It occurs to me that these girls’ ages may have precipitated the time change for this game to an hour earlier. 

Third Quarter

We had a scary moment in this quarter.  Gia and Brooke both hit the floor, fighting with the Falcons over a rebound.  Brooke came up rubbing her head.  The Coach took her out immediately.  I think she was okay.  The Aggies started clearing their bench.  Aaliyah Prince came in.  She got a finger roll shot in the lane for her first college points.  The bench and starters erupted for her.  Adam mentioned she was highly recruited.  After a good start, she kept losing the handle on the ball.  Adam thought she was trying too hard.  On the Falcons, Jackie Perez, at 5’3”, was one of the shorter players on court.  Adam and Nolan were amazed by her play.  She collected at least 7 rebounds by the end of the game.  66-33 Aggies.

Fourth Quarter

The Aggie starters were completely out.  The Falcons also used their bench.  I think everyone played, except for Tonishia Childress, who was injured.  Both teams started off playing up tempo, running up and down the court.  The Coach immediately called a timeout and presumably told the Aggies to knock it off.  I’m sure there was good reason, but I think everyone left (most of the kids and parents were gone by this point) and myself would have enjoyed it.

Baylee Robinson from Roswell came in.  She was in a knee brace.  Kaeli Atkinson was in.  She’s not related to the Coach, but was related to another one.  (Again, crowd noise.  Couldn’t hear the story.)  6’4” Aissatou Fall from Senegal was a presence on court.  Adam referred to her as a “project,” as she was just recently introduced to the game.  She also scored her first college points.  You can’t teach size, but you can teach the rest of it.   

I was pleased to see El Paso walk-on, Sara Lopez, enter the game.  She was so eager, she forgot to check in first, and the referees made her go back and do it.  Nolan also seemed glad to see her.  He reported that she’s “a gym rat,” and hangs out there playing pick-up games (which apparently she shouldn’t be).  Sara dominates the guys there.  She got a steal and a couple of free throws and was cheered on from the bench.  Brooke was all smiles for a change.  I think they’re friends off court. 

          

Sara ended up at the line three times and converted on all her attempts.  There’s been a rules change, that they’re not doing one-and-ones anymore.  They’re all two shots on fouls.  One last good Aggie play before the end.  Pam made a steal and passed to Sara.  She either made a great behind-the-back pass or a bad behind-the-back dribble.  Pam got the ball and finished.  Aggies win 85-58.

This game was never hugely in doubt.  I didn’t take a large amount of notes.  Briana Caro was the high-scorer for the Falcons with 13.  Sierra LaGrande had three three-pointers in the second half.  The team actually had more three’s than two’s for the game.  Like I said, Gia Pack had a great game for the Aggies in only three quarters.  The twins, Monique and Dominique Mills, also had great games at 15 and 11 points respectively.  More praise for Jeneva Toilolo, who had 8 off the bench.  Overall, the defense and rebounding looked good. 

Last game, a gentleman leaving saw me scribbling and told me to make sure I got everything down.  Tonight, I think it was the same guy came by and asked if I wrote for the paper.  No, I’m just writing to torture myself in case I accidently enjoy the game too much.  (And like a guy from the paper would be wearing Aggie gear at a game?)  Amazingly, even with the distractions, the scorecard added up for me (after a couple of tries).  No idea if it’s right or not, but it added up.  I would have stayed for the end of the radio post-game and all the stats, but they turned out the house lights on me.  Somebody really wanted this game over with quick.  

I’ve been overeating on vacation, but I had to try Schlotzsky’s new turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich.  It was pretty good (along with their ice cream of course).  Somebody else came in after me and used the coupon on the back of an Aggie ticket.  I was miffed though.  There’s no radio call for the game versus Lobos on Saturday in Albuquerque.  What the heck!  No competition for Aggie Football that day I guess.

Postscript

So a couple of days later, I was at the mall and ran into a senior from last season’s team, Tamera William, at Auntie Anne’s pretzel shop.  Given that I still have her signed poster up in my kitchen, I had no trouble recognizing her.  Let me get this out of the way first: Yikes!  She’s gorgeous!  I’d referred to Tamera as a “cutie” before, but out of uniform and dressed up, she’s a knockout.  She couldn’t have been nicer.  It probably helped that I knew her name and told her I’d met her getting her autograph (and I was wearing an Aggie hat).  I also told her the team could have used her defense on Sunday. 

Tamera’s working on finishing her degree and thinking about trying out for the WNBA.  She asked if I’d be at Friday’s big Men’s Basketball game with the Lobos, so she’s still an Aggie fan.  I could have chatted for a few minutes about the team, but unfortunately she had a coughing fit, which cut our encounter short.  Hopefully, she’s okay and not sick or choking.  She seemed a bit embarrassed, though there wasn’t any reason to be.  Even with that, this made my vacation week and hopefully (again), a pleasant fan interaction made her day too.