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Box Score 2 Grand Junction, Colo.—While others were resting after the Thanksgiving holiday, the OPSU women's basketball team took to the court for a two-day tournament hosted by Colorado Mesa University Nov. 27-28. The Aggies left with two losses but look ahead to a great week of play at home with games Wednesday and Saturday.
Facing two opponents from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the Aggies were up against stiff competition Friday as they took on the 25th ranked Mavericks from Colorado Mesa. The Mavericks improved to a 3-1 overall record after defeating the Aggies 81-43 in their home-opener at the Holiday Inn Thanksgiving Classic tournament.
The Aggies were outscored 26-3 in the opening period of Friday's matchup. Despite strong efforts in the second period that saw the Mavericks bested at the basket 19-16, OPSU went into the locker room down 21-42 at the half. The Mavericks maintained a 15-12 scoring margin in the third and ran away with the game in the fourth by outscoring the Aggies 24-9 to take the 38-point win.
Senior
Haley Bonilla led the Aggies in scoring with nine total points and
Charron Johnson took the team-high with seven rebounds. Mesa's Bryanna Adams earned the game-high in scoring with 20 points and the game's leading rebounder Siu Lo'amanu totaled ten boards against the Aggies.
Saturday OPSU matched up against Western State from the Mountain Division of the RMAC. Another slow start by the Aggies in the opening period helped the Mountaineers notch their second win of the season. Although the Aggies improved in the second half outscoring their opponent 42-33, Western's 18-point halftime lead was enough to maintain the edge for the 70-62 victory.
Averaging 37 percent from three-point range, the Mountaineers totaled 30 points in long distance shots alone; OPSU struggled from beyond the arc landing 3-19 three-pointers for a 15.8 percent average.
Hannah Whitaker,
Brittany Alavinejad and
Haley Bonilla landed one three each for the Aggies.
Other solid shooters for OPSU were
Kietta Saunders and
Sade Tutson who led the team with 15 and 14 points respectively.
Charron Johnson broke double-digits with twelve points and earned the games only double-double with a game-high of 16 rebounds for the Aggies. Taylor Long held the game-high in scoring putting up 21 total points for Western State; Sydnie Lengyel led the team with ten rebounds for the Mountaineers.
OPSU now holds an overall record of 0-5, but looks to move forward as they close out the fall season at home this week with two games before entering Heartland Conference play later this month. The Aggies will take on West Texas A&M on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 5:30 p.m. and Northern New Mexico Saturday, Dec. 5 at 5 p.m. Fans are reminded to bring canned or non-perishable food items to donate to the Aggies CAN Make a Difference food drive held during all home basketball games through Dec. 5.
