Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—Sunday's double-header in the Oscar Williams Field House ended in defeat for Panhandle State Basketball as the Aggie women took a 93-65 loss to Rockhurst, followed by an 81-69 loss to Southwestern Oklahoma State by the men's team.

The ladies got off to a great start and owned an 18-16 lead after putting up their best first-period performance of the season. Averaging 43 percent in shooting during the first ten minutes of play, the Aggies went 2-5 from three-point range with Taylor Acosta landing Panhandle's only two long-distance shots of the day. The Hawks turned the tables in the second quarter and held the Aggies to just 18 percent from the field, while the visiting team went on to score 29 points to take a 45-27 lead at halftime. The Aggies continued to battle after the break scoring 19 points in each of the two remaining periods, but Rockhurst remained hot-handed averaging 49 percent in second-half shooting.

Panhandle ended with a 33 percent shooting average for the game, while the Hawks shot over 48 percent in the contest. Turnovers hurt the home team as Rockhurst made away with 14 steals to outscore the Aggies 24-5 in points off turnovers. Rockhurst also received strong assistance from the bench where they beat the Aggies 49-17 with the help of non-starter Madeline Ronhausen who put up 18 bench points for the Hawks.

Darby Price and Taylor Acosta were the Aggies' leading scorers adding 18 and 13 points respectively. Acosta also held the team-high in assists with four, and had one of the Aggies' four steals in the game. Johlicia Williams earned the game-high in rebounds, getting nine boards for Panhandle; Williams also scored nine points and had the team's only blocked shot. Hannah Whitaker also had a good day at the boards bringing down eight rebounds for the Aggies. Rockhurst totaled eight blocks in the game and their leading rebounder was Marisa Lowe with six; the Hawks top shooters were Mary DIneen and Briahtia Sebek. Dineen had a game-high of 19 points, followed by Sebek with 18.

Women's head coach Charles Terry feels that consistency is key saying, "We are very inconsistent in shooting the ball and that effects other areas that we need to be successful in, such as our defense. We have to get better as a whole and improve in our shooting." The Aggies drop to a 1-7 overall record as they enter the conference stretch.

Panhandle's men struggled through the first half, down 38-25 at intermission; but the Aggies hit a hot streak after halftime and outscored the Bulldogs 44-43. Unfortunately, the strong second-half efforts were not enough to overcome the first-half drought. SWOSU managed to hold the Aggies to an 18 percent shooting average in the first half of the game, and just 15 percent from three-point range; in the first twenty minutes the Aggies went 3-20 beyond the arc. Shooting improved for Panhandle after the break as the Aggies added 18 points off long-distance shots and averaged 39 percent from the field. The Bulldogs were consistent with a 40 percent shooting average for the game and went 11-41 from three-point range for a 26.8 percent average; the Aggies averaged 24.3 percent beyond the arc (9-37). Aggie shooters added 24 points from the line to average 80 percent in free throws; SWOSU averaged 75 percent in free throws on the day.

Head Coach Jerry Olson commented after the game, "I'm proud of how we competed. To shoot as poorly as we did and still be in the game says a lot about our effort and not quitting. We didn't score well inside and the walled us up quite a bit. I do think we are getting better focus defensively, but we still take some breaks that give up big shots against good teams."

The Bulldogs also showed depth outscoring the Aggies 48-9 from the bench. Bowen Nyberg and Jaedon Whitfield combined for the Aggies' nine bench points; Nyberg with six and Whitfield with three. Pierre Roddy scored a team-high of 21 points for Panhandle, backed up by Riyadh Asad who added 15 points for the Aggies, including three shots from beyond the arc. Devonta Brooks led on defense with nine rebounds. SWOSU's Nick Shoemaker held the game-high in scoring with 25 total points and Altez Davis was the game's leading rebounder with 11 boards; both Bulldogs put up game-high performances off the bench. The Aggie men now own a 5-3 record with one game left before entering Heartland play.

Aggie basketball will continue with home-court action this week as the men's team takes on Ottawa University Thursday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. The conference-opener will take place on Saturday, Dec. 17 with a two-game matchup against Oklahoma Christian; the women tip-off at 1 p.m. followed by the men at 3 p.m. Both Aggie teams compete again on Monday, Dec. 19 as another Heartland Conference double-header is set for 1 and 3 p.m. versus the St. Edward's Hilltoppers.