"Everything I worried about happening happened.
It hurts even to write about this game. I should have known that it was going to be a crappy game when Toya (LaToya Lloyd) went down in the first 20 seconds. She twisted her left ankle and went off the court limping. That made it all the tougher.
So that left the rest of us to fight off Baylor. We were able to hang with Baylor - for nine points - then Baylor hit the accelerator and before we knew it, we were down by 11. They just knocked us off the boards like a windshield wiper hitting a fly. Without the boards, we had to shoot and Coach Ballard tried to keep Baylor away from me - my job was to kick it out to the guards. It didn't matter because I couldn't play forward, I still can't play forward, I feel like a fool at the post. Those Baylor girls play to your back and they put their elbows right into you when you back up into them.
I got frustrated. I fouled. I spent most of my time on the bench. Baylor kept taking swipes at me. I scored seven points. Seven god-damned points. It was a nightmare. #34 (Williamette Moss) didn't score in the entire game. We just had no power to score from close range at all.
First Baylor was up by 11. Then by 15. Then at one time they were up by like, what, 24 in the second half? I think they put it on cruise control, but even on cruise control, they were tough. There were four fouls on me and I came in the second half because we were desperate. Ten second laters, I had my fifth foul. Coach Ballard said a swear.
We walked off that court as whipped as a team can get, and in front of friggin New Mexico, which suddenly turned into the biggest Baylor fans in the world. I am beginning to hate the state of New Mexico with a passion. I still cried at the end of this game, but not as much. Those fans just got to me."
--Brenda Dean
Egad. This looked pretty much like a #4 vs. #12 game in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. These games go like this:
a) #12 is coming off being the best team in their conference. They think they can hang.
b) They hang for about five minutes.
c) Reality sets in.
For UTEP, reality sat in and Brenda Dean was particulary ineffective. Without LaToya Lloyd, this left UTEP to rely on its reserves. The problem was that Baylor's starters were just so good that alone they scored 65 points against the entire UTEP lineup. (As you can tell, Baylor's bench players only score eight points.) Three Baylor players didn't even shoot.
To add insult to injury, Letell Hanson also was injured near the end of the game. Nothing serious: both Lloyd and Hanson will be out one game, and Idaho State will hopefully not be a formidable opponent.
It's very hard writing so long after the fact - the game is just a vague fuzzy memory. I can at least tell you how the ratings have changed for UTEP. It hurts UTEP that they lost the game but it helps that they've played such a tough team.
AP Poll RPI: 53
Coaches Poll RPI: 41
UTEP actually moves up in the Coaches Poll RPI, which puts more weight on strength of schedule. They actually move up one spot in the poll - whereas in the AP Poll RPI, UTEP drops five places.
In the alternate game, I have New Mexico defeating Idaho State. This sets up New Mexico vs. Baylor as the headline game (which I won't be playing) and puts UTEP vs. Idaho State in the consolation game.
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