Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score Goodwell, Okla.—The OPSU Women's Basketball team earned their first Heartland Conference win of the season against Newman University Thursday evening with a final score of 65-49.

The Aggies dressed in pink uniforms in support of breast cancer awareness and the Oscar Williams Field House was electric with energy from a great Aggie crowd.

Tatyana Bell had an impressive opening half for the Aggies, shooting near perfect for 14 total points. Bell went 6-6 from the field with one three-pointer, only missing one shot from the line. Defensively both teams battled at the boards bringing down 17 rebounds each in the first half; Kiera Waters totaled six for the Aggies.

The Aggies went into the locker room with a five point lead after fighting through three score ties and five lead changes. The Lady Jets gave up five points on fouls to help put OPSU on top 33-28 at halftime. At the break the Aggies were averaging 39 percent in shooting and 67 percent at the free-throw line; Newman shot at 36 percent from the field and 75 percent from the line.

Foul trouble continued to plague the Lady Jets in the second half as the team racked up 16 player fouls and two technical on the bench. Hannah Tatum and Sade Tutson came back with a spark leading the second half in scoring with eight points each. The Aggies worked the boards taking 19 rebounds in the closing twenty minutes, while Newman brought down 17.

Although the Aggies' shooting percentage dropped in the second half (28 percent), they were able to take advantage at the line scoring 16 points in free-throws to Newman's three. For the game the Lady Jets totaled 28 fouls and 20 turnovers on which the Aggies were able capitalize. With 36 total rebounds, OPSU was able to add 17 second-chance points to the board.

Bell led the game in scoring with 21 points and claimed seven rebounds for the Aggies. Waters finished with nine rebounds, another game-high, and totaled 12 points followed by Tutson with 11. The Aggies took away eight balls on turnovers with Brittany Alavinejad leading the game with three steals.

Newman's Brianna Caldwell led her team in scoring with 15 points and also led in rebounds with eight; Shakira Raynor contributed a game-high six assists. With the loss the Lady Jets drop to 7-13 overall with four conference wins. The Aggies move to 3-18 and now have one conference win under their belts.

Happy for his team OPSU Coach Charles Terry said this, "We put a game together where we limited our mistakes and capitalized on theirs. It's a game we'd like to play again and hopefully we can do that on Saturday and keep it going."

The Aggies will celebrate Winter Homecoming as they take on Oklahoma Christian University for another Heartland Conference match-up Saturday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. The OPSU Staff Liaison Committee will hold a silent auction prior to the game with bidding taking place through halftime of the men's game which is set to tip-off at 3 p.m.; Homecoming royalty will be crowned during halftime of the men's game as well. Fans are invited to pack the Oscar Williams Field House this Saturday and get loud and proud for Aggie Basketball!