Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score Goodwell, Okla.—In a senior send-off, closing out the college careers of three OPSU women's basketball players, it was fitting that the Aggies' top three scorers were Brittany Alavinejad, Tatyana Bell and Haley Bonilla; the three seniors combined for 29 points in the Aggies' final home game against St. Mary's Saturday afternoon.

Despite strong efforts by all the Aggie women, OPSU was out-powered by the fourth-ranked team in the Heartland Conference; the St. Mary's Rattlers defeated the Aggies 92-43 to land a fifth seed slot in the conference tournament. After the first period the Aggie women were down by a deficit of 13 points (11-24). By the break the Rattlers had secured a 21-point advantage and led 42-21. Turnovers proved detrimental throughout the game for OPSU as the Aggies gave the ball up 19 times in the first half to add 23 points for the visiting team.

The third period put a damper in the Aggie spirit as the Rattlers outscored OPSU 31-9 to charge ahead by 43 points (73-30); and the final ten minutes were also won by the Rattlers (16-13), although it was the Aggies' strongest scoring period. Eleven more Aggie turnovers put up 18 points for their opponents in the second half. The Aggies averaged 26.5 percent from the field for the game and went two of 15 from beyond the arc. St. Mary's shooters hit ten of 25 from three-point range and averaged and even 50 percent overall.

SMU's Arysia Porter held the game-high in scoring with 18 points and totaled five rebounds and three steals on the game. Kiara Etheridge was the Rattlers' second highest scorer putting up 17 points; she contributed six rebounds and four steals as well. LaBraile Fields and Dezirae Elias also added double-digits for St. Mary's scoring 14 and ten points respectively. Elias led the game in steals with five and Fields grabbed a game-high in assists with seven. The team-high in rebounds for the visitors went to Haley Richter who brought down seven boards.

For the Aggies Tatyana Bell finished strong with 13 points, followed by Brittany Alavinejad who scored ten; Haley Bonilla was the Aggies' third leading scorer with six points, including one three-pointer. Bell also earned a game-high in rebounds with eight and OPSU's Hannah Whitaker hauled in six boards and led the game in blocks with four. Of the Aggies' seven steals, junior Shaletha Mayberry got away with three. The Aggies closed the books on the season with a 2-24 overall record and one win in the Heartland Conference.

For 2015-2016 Bell led the team in scoring averaging 11.5 points per game with an overall shooting percentage of 43.9 percent; she also led at the line shooting 86.3 percent in free throws. Alavinejad had the team-high in long distance shots and steals totaling 20 three-pointers and 28 steals on the season. Whitaker finished out the season as OPSU's leading rebounds averaging 6.4 per game and also led the team in blocks totaling 34 this year. The team leader for assists was Kietta Saunders who offered 62 throughout the season.

OPSU women's basketball fell short of post-season play this year, but have the possibility to receive All-Conference accolades for individual performances. The Aggies will look to rebuild during the off-season and prepare their next class of athletes for 2016-2017 season ahead.