Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—The OPSU men's and women's basketball teams each celebrated victories after their home-openers against Barclay College Tuesday evening in the Oscar Williams Field House.

Both teams played in front of a great crowd, many of whom dressed in purple in support of the March of Dimes Purple-Out. The Aggie women kicked things off in grand fashion with a 91-46 win over the Lady Bears; the men followed winning their game 93-81.

The Aggie women jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after just one and a half minutes of play thanks to the quick work of senior forward Jaclyn Becker who grabbed an offensive rebound, sank two free-throws, blocked a Barclay shot and drained a three in that short amount of time. Becker led the game in scoring with 23 points and brought down six rebounds against the Lady Bears.

Assistant Coach Matt Creamer was proud of how Becker stepped into the starter position as senior, "Everyone accepted their roles and played well together. When Jackie learned she was starting, she lit up and went after it."

At the half the ladies of OPSU had a 48-27 lead, 17 of those points coming from Becker alone. By the 14-minute mark the Aggies enjoyed a 33-point cushion thanks to the help of Tatyana Bell who accounted for six points, two rebounds, one steal and an assist to start the second half. The Aggies continued to feed off of their own momentum and held Barclay to a 25 percent shooting percentage in the second half and finished with a comfortable 45-point victory.

Creamer said this of the win, "It was great to get a win at the first home game in front of a good crowd. We look to build on this win as we travel to Alva Saturday to play Northwestern. We're used to having a one-play mentality; we will also keep a one-game mentality taking one game at a time."

In addition to Becker, the following Aggies made strong contributions against Barclay: Bell totaled 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds; Kiera Waters finished with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists; Jacinda Balderrama offered a game-high of four assists. Leading the Lady Bears was Goodwell's own Shandy Edenborough who finished with 21 points and six rebounds. The Aggies shot 42 percent from the field and scored 38 points off of Barclay turnovers. The ladies' record now stands at 1-2 on the season.

OPSU's men got off to a slow start in their match-up with Barclay, allowing the visitors to control the lead through the two-minute mark when Nico Meadows hit a layup followed by three successful free-throws and a shot good for three to pull the Aggies into the lead by two at the half (43-41).

Head Coach Jerry Olson said that he was "very frustrated with the way we played and how we started the game. They (Barclay) out-hustled us to loose balls and rebounds."

The Aggie men pulled together in the second half and held the lead for the rest of the game going up by as much as 17 points at the four-minute mark thanks to freshman guard Austin Beene who drained a layup and two threes in a row. Beene finished with 11 points along with Meadows who also led the Aggies in rebounds with five.

In their first win of the season the Aggie men shot 48 percent from the field and 70 percent from the line; Barclay led defensively with 36 total rebounds to the Aggies 25. Like the ladies, the men's team also capitalized on turnovers scoring 40 points on take-aways. Barclay's leading scorer was Andre Barnes with 16 points, while Charles Brodhead led in rebounds with a game-high of seven.

Antonio Manns, Jr. proves to be a consistent leader for the Aggie men scoring another game-high with 28 points; Manns also grabbed four steals from the Bears. Marquavius Williams tied the game-high with four assists and London-native Mantas Adomaitas shot 63 percent from the field, 75 percent from beyond the arc and went two for two from the line.

Olson gives credit to the Barclay players saying, "They played really well." He adds this of his team, "I'm really happy with Antonio's performance, he was very good and did a good job on defense. I'm also really pleased with Mantas; he did what he was supposed to. 'Quay' Williams is also a steady player and a guy I can really trust."

The Aggie men also move to a 1-2 record and will continue home-court action this week as they play Northern New Mexico College Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. Aggie fans are encouraged to take part in the Aggies CAN Make a Difference Food Drive by bringing non-perishable food items to each home game through Dec. 18.