Time Out! Lobos vs. Oral Roberts

THE PIT--Four of us have season tickets to women's basketball. The Artist Ken Saville and I went down by the floor, leaving Mary and MaryAnn to suffer in the thin air of row 2. (The numbers start at the top). Ken has a fine eye for the women's game...and an even better eye for spotting cheerleader talent. I better remind the reader that Ken looks upon these young women as a total professional. He is, after all, an artist.

Nevertheless, we encountered some of the same problems that beset us sitting up at the top: that is...big obstructions. We ended up sitting behind a big-eared wolf with fuzzy hair. We did manage to get the flavor of the game but not too many shots of the action.

For a complete recap of the game, browse the GOLOBOS website. It is very complete. But down on the floor, first half play fell into 4 acts:

• Act 1: Wholesale substitutions by Oral Roberts (5 out and 5 new players in). This went on every 2 or 3 minutes for most of the first half.
• Act 2: Lobos lead 12-0. ORU couldn't buy a basket and they kept turning the ball over.
• Act 3: ORU settles down and Lobos fall asleep. The score was now 17-15.
• Act 4: Julie Briody, who had lost her starting position to the hero of the Metro State game Brandi Kimble, entered stage left and in her usual herky-jerky style scored, defended, and bounced around the floor like a souped-up Ever-Ready rabbit. The score at the half: 29-20. The picture above is of Julie Briody (#40). You can't really see her, but neither could anybody else.

At halftime Ken and I abandoned camp near the floor for our paid seats atop Lobo Mesa. Tempers had soured at this point, both courtside and in the stands. The ORU coach picked up a technical. Then after a particularly jarring pick set by Dionne Marsh resulting in the ORU player being smacked into the varnish at the top of the key where she lay for a few moments before being helped to her feet by a teammate and staggering to midcourt, well...Lobo Coach Don Flanagan picked up a T for charging out on the floor to protest the called foul. He later said it was the first pick that Dionne had set in her Lobo career and he was afraid she might never set another one if he didn't stick up for her.

The crowd was going nutz. The referees were afraid they would need more than a mere police escort to leave the building safely. The players regrouped. With the score now 48-41 the game seemed to be slowly slipping away. Senior Abbie Letz later said,

"I think all of us kind of got together and said, 'You know what, coach has his deal, that's his thing.' '' Letz said. "We had to play through the refs, we had to play through their team. ... Our crowd got behind us and really picked us up."

Meanwhile Ken had picked out emerging talent in the cheerleader pool...the one in the sexy French style leg brace. I remind you, he IS a professional. At any rate, the Lobos won 69-52. It was a great tune-up for the crowd, which already sounded in mid-season form. Sunday we take on California in round 2 of the Pre-Season WNIT.