Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score Goodwell, Okla.—The OPSU women's basketball team took a loss on their home court Tuesday evening against Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Although the Aggies held a narrow lead through most of the first half, the Rangers came out with a nine-point victory in the end winning 72-63.

Off to a strong start, the Aggies maintained the lead throughout the first period and gained as much as a seven-point lead at the 4:35 mark of the second. But, three turnovers and two fouls gave the ball back to the Rangers who went 7-8 in the closing minutes of the first half. Northwestern left the court with a seven-point lead at the break (26-33).

The Aggies battled through the third period and pulled within one point of the Rangers with under two minutes remaining. Four consecutive missed shots by OPSU turned the momentum towards the visiting team, who steadily increased their lead in the final period earning their first win of the season.

Averaging 38 percent shooting for the game, the Aggies struggled in the second half landing 1-5 long distance shots and 6-13 from the line. The Rangers shot at 44 percent and went 50 percent from beyond the arc and 75 percent at the free-throw line.

Northwestern's Deja Beechum led the game in scoring with 18 points; Beechum went 4-4 from three-point range and also had seven rebounds. The Aggies' leading scorer was Charron Johnson who put up 14 points from the bench and brought down six rebounds. Brittany Alavinejad went 5-10 for the day with one three for eleven total points, and Kiera Waters and Johlicia Williams each scored nine for the Aggies; Waters landed 2-2 from three-point range.

The Rangers also owned the game-high in rebounds as Kameron Bozeman brought down 11 boards and fell just shy of the double-double with eight points. Kietta Saunders led the Aggies with eight total rebounds and also led the team with four assists and four steals. Hannah Whitaker also contributed defensively with five rebounds, three steals and a game-high of three blocked shots.

Coach Charles Terry commented after the game, "We are still a work in progress, but we definitely have some young ladies that play very hard. I'm proud of the team's effort and we will keep on grinding and figure out how to make more shots."

The Aggie women will travel to Grand Junction, Colo. this weekend to compete in the Thanksgiving Classic hosted by Colorado Mesa University Nov. 27-28. The team resumes play at home next week with games on Wednesday and Saturday, taking on West Texas A&M Dec. 2 at 5:30 p.m. and Northern New Mexico College Dec. 5 at 5 p.m.