Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 San Antonio, Texas—The Aggie men's and women's basketball teams opened Heartland Conference play on the road Thursday night, each taking on third-ranked conference opponents of St. Mary's University.

The Aggie women dropped to 1-7 on the season after taking a 65-90 loss to the Rattlers who now own an overall record of 7-2 with their first conference win. The men's team, despite a strong second half comeback, fell 86-99 to take their second loss of the season.

Down 26-39 at the half, the Lady Aggies put up a season-high of 30 points in the fourth period, but a sluggish third period saw St. Mary's outscore OPSU 33-9 propelling their lead to help clinch the win.

Tatyana Bell was back on the court for OPSU and picked up where she left off last year, scoring a team-high of 15 points. Bell went two of three from beyond the arc and three for three from the line; she also had four rebounds, two blocks and one steal on the game. Sinking 10-11 free throw attempts, senior Haley Bonilla was the second leading scorer for OPSU with 12 total points. Hannah Whitaker led the Aggies in rebounds with six and Kietta Saunders led the team with four assists.

Two St. Mary's players earned game-high numbers in scoring with Arysia Porter and LaBraile Fields adding 16 points each. Kiara Etheridge had the games only double-double with a game-high of ten rebounds and 12 points.

The men's team also amped-up their game after the break as they outscored the Rattlers 59-56 in the second half and improved their shooting performance by nearly 25 percent. OPSU shooters went seven of nine from three-point range and cut down from 15 turnovers to just eight in the second half. St. Mary's still managed to score 34 points off Aggie turnovers and beat OPSU 58-26 in the paint.

Antonio Manns, Jr. put up another game-high performance scoring 22 points in the game, 14 of which came in the second half. Marquavius Williams, Melvin Mitchell and Zoran Arsenovich also broke into double-digits totaling 16, 15 and 14 points respectively. Manns, Mitchell and Williams each also went two for two in three-pointers. Williams finished with a team-high of seven rebounds and four steals and contributed four assists.

Dedrick Shannon, Jr. continued dishing the ball and shared a game-high of five assists with Kriston Minor of St. Mary's. Minor totaled 18 points for the game, just below teammate Trey Hall who earned a team-high and the only double-double of the night with 20 points and 11 rebounds. The Rattlers averaged 59 percent from the field and were held to a 21.4 percent average from beyond the arc; the Aggies went eight of 12 from long distance for an overall three-point average of 66.7 percent.

Both teams remain on the road for another Heartland matchup Saturday, Dec. 19 in Laredo, Texas. The Aggies will take on Texas A&M International who are also on the hunt for their first conference wins. The women's game is set for 1 p.m. and the men tip-off at 3 p.m. Fans can follow the action via live stats and video links available on the basketball schedule pages of the OPSU Aggie Athletics website.