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Box Score 4 Claremore, Okla.—Following two losses in Fort Smith on Thursday, the OPSU basketball teams traveled to Claremore where they fell to Rogers State Saturday afternoon, leaving both the Aggie men and women winless for the week as they continue inner-conference competition.
Thursday the Aggie women's team took a thirty-point loss to the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, falling 40-70 to the Lady Lions; the men's team was defeated 77-95. On Saturday it was OPSU's men who suffered a thirty+ point loss, as the Hillcats ran away with a 102-71 victory over the Aggies. The ladies made a game of it, falling by just four points to Rogers State in a 50-56 battle that saw eight lead changes and five tied scores throughout the match.
Averaging 21.6 percent from the field against Fort Smith, the Aggies' shooting struggles were personified by their performance beyond the arc, where the ladies went zero for 17 in three-point attempts for the game. Success at the line saved face for some as
Kietta Saunders and Tatayana Bell each sank four free throws for the Aggies.
Saunders ended up as the only OPSU shooter to reach double-digits, leading the team with ten points. Bell had the next highest numbers totaling six points along with
Brittany Alavinejad who also scored six. The Aggies totaled 46 rebounds for the game, while the Lady Lions hauled in 56 boards. Bell was good on the glass and earned a game-high with ten rebounds.
Thursday's matchup also brought out ball- control concerns as OPSU gave up 43 points off 29 turnovers and 17 steals by UAFS players. The Lady Lions allowed only two steals on 15 turnovers, giving up just one point to the Aggies on takeaways. OPSU's bench was also outscored 33-12;
Hannah Southard and
Monti Sappenfield combined for six points from non-starters. Sappenfield also took away both stolen balls from UAFS turnovers.
The Lady Lions had three players break the double-digit mark led by Jasmine Brainard who totaled 12 points for the game. Olivia Hanson and Andrea Wilson led their team in rebounds with seven apiece, and Brittany Holbert led the game in steals with five. Candice Followwell held the game-high in assists, contributing four for the Lady Lions. For the game UAFS held a shooting average of 31.1 percent from the field, went seven of 27 at three-point range and shot 54.8 percent from the line.
On Saturday the Aggie women faced a fourth-ranked Rogers State team that owned a 3-3 conference record and was 8-5 overall. The ladies brought a different game than was showcased Thursday, outscoring the Hillcats in periods two and four and matching RSU point-for-point off turnovers. While OPSU still averaged less than 30 percent in shooting (29.8), they showed marked improvement on long distance shots, turnover ratio and steals. The Aggies also outscored the Hillcats 15-10 in second chance points.
Neither team got off to a hot start as the first period ended with the Aggies down 6-9; OPSU went 2-12 from the field and Rogers landed 4-17 shots in the first ten minutes of play.
Johlicia Williams opened up the scoring for OPSU in the second quarter with a layup good for two in the paint, and was followed up with a successful three-pointer from the hands of
Denise Levine to put the Aggies on top by two points (11-9). Another outside shot by Levine added three more points to the Aggies' advantage with a little over seven minutes remaining in the half. The Hillcats landed just two of 15 from the field in the second half sending OPSU off the court with a two-point lead (17-15) at the break. At halftime the Aggies had outgained their opponents five to one on steals and gave up three less balls on turnovers (9-12).
The Hillcats fired off two consecutive shots in the beginning of the third period and quickly reclaimed a three-point lead in under a minute on the court.
Tatyana Bell then put the Aggies back on top after making two free-throws and a layup; but the Hillcats went on a run and outscored the Aggies 19-9 in the final eight minutes of the third quarter.
Going into the fourth the score was 39-30, Rogers State. The Hillcats held a nine-point lead through the 5:28 mark when
Hannah Southard scored two from the line for OPSU to narrow the gap to seven. A minute later Southard hit a three to pull the Aggies even closer and, by the 2:32 mark, OPSU had nudged back ahead by one point. However, Rogers was given seven points off three fouls and one Aggie turnover shifting the score back in favor of the home team and denying the Aggies their first Heartland Conference victory. The loss puts the Aggies at 1-14 for the season.
Tatyana Bell put up a top-notch performance against Rogers earning her first double-double of the season with 24 points and 16 rebounds, for game-high numbers in both categories. Bell also contributed one block and one steal on the game.
Denise Levine totaled 14 points for the Aggies; 12 of which came off three-point shots.
Hannah Whitaker was also a force at the boards for OPSU bringing down eight rebounds. Emily Gamble also marked a double-double adding ten points and 11 rebounds for Rogers State; and RSU's Kami Bunch held the game-high in assists with six.
Moving to the men's games, the Aggies put up a valiant effort against the second ranked team in the Heartland Conference in Thursday's matchup with UAFS. The Lions came into the game with an 11-3 record and four conference wins under their belts.
Zoran Arsenovic busted out with an early three to start the scoring and was backed up by a two-point shot from
Marquavius Williams. The Aggies held an early 5-0 lead after two minutes of play and maintained the upper hand through the 14:31 mark when the Lions tied the game at eight all with two successful free throw attempts. The pace picked up and the Aggies hung within a few points of the Lions throughout much of the first half; the Lions largest lead came with seven minutes left in the half with a ten-point margin and a score of 29-19. At the break the score was 43-37 with the Aggies down by six. At halftime
DeShawn Dean was the game's leading scorer, totaling 15 points for OPSU.
The Aggies were outscored 26-9 in the first seven minutes of the second half. By the 5:07 mark the Lions had gained a 25-point edge and, despite great effort by the Aggies, UAFS won out with an 18-point victory on their home court. There was a 13 percent disparity in field goal percentage for the game with OPSU averaging 40.3 percent and UAFS 53.1. The Lions excelled at the boards, beating the Aggies on the rebound 44-28. Both teams gave up 14 turnovers; however Fort Smith capitalized on steals outscoring the Aggies 22-14 as well as on second chance points 24-6.
Dedrick Shannon. Jr. totaled a team-high of 17 points for the Aggies followed by Dean with 16; Shannon and Dean also led the team in rebounds with six and five respectively. The game-high in assists went to
Zoran Arsenovic who contributed six for OPSU. For t Smith's leading scorers were DaVaunta Thomas and Alex Cooper who combined for 42 points; Thomas with 22 and Cooper with 20. The game's leading rebounders were also from UAFS. Kenny Dalton and Kenny Glapion collected eight and seven boards respectively.
Rogers State's men put on a three-point clinic in Saturday's matchup with the Aggies. The Hillcats averaged 64.3 percent from beyond the arc, sinking 11-17 in the first half and 7-11 in the second. Of the eight three-point shots the Aggies got off, they only landed two. OPSU, on the other hand, made its money from the line scoring 27 points off free-throws and averaging 87.1 percent for the game.
Melvin Mitchell gave a perfect performance in the first half landing two of two from the field, with one three, and sinking seven of seven free throw attempts. Rogers also had a perfect shooter in Donald Moore, who landed five of five from three-point land and added one two-point shot for a leading score of 17 points going into the break. The Aggies' shooting percentage dropped from 50 percent to 33.3 percent in the second half while Rogers stayed on task at 55.6 percent. The Hillcats also outplayed the Aggie bench by 24 points for the game; the UAFS bench put up 20 points in the second half alone.
Trey Fankhouser and
Jared Straight were the only non-starters with minutes to score points; the pair accounted for 11 points for OPSU.
Mitchell led the Aggies in scoring, missing just two baskets in the game to finish with 17 points.
Marquavius Williams, Zoran Arseonvic and
Antonio Manns, Jr. also hit double-digits totaling 14, 13 and ten points respectively for the Aggies. Manns also led the team in rebounds with five and had three steals on the Hillcats. Donald Moore finished as the game leader with 22 points including 6-8 in three-pointers. Fort Smith's Corey Ayala and Travis Julien held game highs with six rebounds each; Ayala also led the game with six assists.
The men's team now sits an even 8-8 on the season and will continue conference action this week on their home court. Both the Aggie men and women will take on teams from St. Edward's Thursday, Jan. 21 with the women's game tipping off at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, Jan. 23 the Aggies host opponents from Texas-Permian Basin with games starting at 1 p.m.
