"It's another day writing at 2 am. Too excited to sleep, and I've let Mackie (Immaculata Suarez) go ahead and sleep. It was a great day, and I let Mrs. Dean know way back home in the hills that her daughter, Brenda, set two records today. Brenda Dean (me) is the leading single-game scorer in UTEP history with 46 points. I'm also the leading single-game scorer in Conference USA history with 46 points. Or, I have at least a tie with someone who scored 46 points in a game about five years ago.
It's all a blur. I had about 22 points going into halftime, and we led 51-25. It was clear that Idaho wasn't going to give us any trouble, although they played really hard. We began rolling it up and as I began to creep into the 30s the media director started talking to one of the assistant coaches, who spoke to Coach Ballard.
Late in the game, Coach made it clear. "Get the ball to #13. Let's give Brenda the record." So every time I had an open look, or a half-open look, I slashed my way to the backet. Idaho began to worry that I'd score 50 points on them, and they finally put two men on me to deny me anything easy. I just couldn't get that 47th point.
Letell Hanson said, "Great game, 'Bickie D'" after the game. She had scored 23 points in that game and I felt she got overlooked by what press there was. Someone from the El Paso Times (who are great about reporting our games) asked me a few questions. There weren't many people at the game, and it was only covered by the Times and by some tabloid press. I just said I was happy to be here, happy to be healthy and hoping that I could do it again sometime.
We're going on the road next for a rematch with New Mexico State in New Mexico. It's our first road game of the season. That loss to the Aggies at home is the only blemish on our record. I want to drop forty points on the Aggies in New Mexico, and I want to win by forty too. "
-- Brenda Dean
Yep, it's true that Brenda Dean finally got her record (tying) game. I had to find an old copy of a media guide from Conference USA to confirm the record. Hopefully, now that I know how to use Dean - make sure that she's not forced to rest and make sure to use index points to burn Defense Fouls at the right time and I can keep her in the game for long periods of time, long enough for some amazing outcomes.
It's also true that I decided that Idaho would double team Dean once she got to forty points, as she got there with a nice amount of time left in the second half and there was a chance that she could make fifty. For Idaho, the double team defense - which lowers shooting by 10 points (in base eight) for anyone double team but boosts the unguarded man's shooting by 10 points - seemed to work very nicely. Dean indeed had a much tougher time shooting and Wiliamette Moss didn't get enough passes to pick up the slack. Maybe if UTEP had been less particular about getting the ball to Dean then Moss would have had better looks.
I worried that Idaho would run out of players with a player depth of only nine players - but Idaho didn't do too bad. A couple of players ran into stamina difficulty but it didn't become too ridiculous.
I think that I might have actually exceeded Dean's stamina by a couple of points - note that she had a double-double. My record-keeping might only be about 95 percent accurate, but really - the point of this is to enjoy one's self. I'm going to do my best to be accurate but I refuse to beat myself up over not being 100 percent accurate. The point is to get some enjoyment out of this while making things as "realistic" as possible.
So much to write about. Next up: UTEP's first road game, a rematch with New Mexico. I expect Dean to fall victim to both fouling and to forced rests, so UTEP could very well be swept in the season series. I've got NMSU at 4 - (-3) = 7 index points, which will make NMSU a tough road opponent.
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