Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Lubbock, Texas—While others were preparing to ring in a New Year, the OPSU men's and women's basketball teams were preparing for Heartland Conference matchups against Lubbock Christian University Friday afternoon.

The Aggie women faced an undefeated Lady Chaps team ranked first in the conference with an overall record of 10-0. LCU's record remained unblemished as they defeated the Lady Aggies 96-51. The Aggies now hold an overall record of 1-9.

The Aggies were held to a 29.7 percent shooting average from the field and were outscored 50-10 in the paint. The Lady Chaps earned 30 points off turnovers and scored 24 second chance points off 18 offensive rebounds. OPSU was beaten at the boards bringing down 29 total rebounds to LCU's 49.

Haley Fowler led the game in scoring putting up 18 points for LCU; Tatyana Bell was the leading scorer for OPSU with 14 points, followed by Monte Sappenfield who totaled 10 points and shot 100 percent for the game. Sappenfield went three for three from the field with two three-pointers and landed two of two from the line. Bell also led the Aggies with four assists and five rebounds. LCU's Nicole Hampton had the game-high in assists with six and teammate Allison Szabo led the game in rebounds with twelve.

In Friday's second game the Aggie took a 39-point loss to the Chaps who earned their second conference win in the 99-60 victory. LCU's men sit fifth in the Heartland ranks with an overall record of 8-3 while the Aggies dropped to 6-4 on the season.

Down 19 points at the half, the Aggie men averaged 36 percent shooting in the first twenty minutes of play while LCU shot 61.29 percent from the field. The Chaps held OPSU shooters to a 32 percent average in the second half and LCU finished with an overall shooting percentage of 57.6 percent. Outplayed 58-16 in the paint the Aggies also lost the battle at the boards by twelve rebounds (27-39). LCU totaled 30 points off 19 OPSU turnovers.

Game highs in scoring, rebounds and assists went to Lubbock Christian's Matthew Alford with 22 points and A.J. Luckey who led with eight rebounds and nine assists. Antonio Manns,  Jr. led the Aggies with 14 points and Zoran Arsenovic shared the game-high in rebounds with eight.

Disappointed in the team's performance Coach Jerry Olson stated, "I thought our defense was atrocious. We are not getting in good stances and are constantly getting beat off the dribble and then our help side is nowhere to be found." Olson added, "Lubbock Christian is a very good team and very well coached."

Both Aggie teams compete on the road on Saturday with the women traveling to Kansas City, Mo. to take on Rockhurst College at 1 p.m. and the men competing in Dallas against Dallas Baptist at 2 p.m. The men's team will return to Goodwell for a home game against Bethel College on Monday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.