Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—The Aggies took two losses Thursday evening in the Oscar Williams Field House as both the OPSU women's and men's teams were defeated by top-ranked Heartland Conference opponents from Texas A&M-International University. The Lady Aggies fell behind in a poor first half performance and, despite outscoring the Dustdevils (15-10) 40-26 in the second half, fell to the second-ranked team in the conference 60-80. OPSU's men struggled defensively throughout, taking a 54-78 loss to TAMIU (18-9) who currently sits fifth among the men's Heartland ranks.

The Aggie women were down 20-54 after the first two periods of the game, and made a second-half comeback that doubled their first-half efforts. TAMIU had two players reach double-digits before the break, while the Aggies finished the game with only one player breaking the mark; Charron Johnson totaled ten points to lead her team in scoring and earned the double-double with a game-high of ten rebounds. Hannah Whitaker and senior Brittany Alavinejad were close behind scoring nine points each for the Aggies, Whitaker with eight rebounds as well.

For the Dustdevils Jessica Prieto held the game-high with 23 points, followed by Hannah Beede who scored 21; the pair combined for 12 of TAMIU's 15 three-pointers. International's top player at the boards was Keiona Mathews with nine rebounds; she also contributed a game-high of six assists along with Prieto and OPSU's Denise Levine who also offered six assists. Overall, the Aggies averaged 35.5 percent in shooting and the Dustdevils shot at 42.4 percent from the field. A 2-23 season record with one conference win will hold the Aggies back from entering post-season play in the Heartland Conference Tournament.

The OPSU men's team hung strong through the four-minute mark of the first half, where they sat within three points of their opponent (28-31). The Dustdevils then landed five of seven shots, two from three-point range, while the Aggies went one for three and committed three turnovers and three fouls in the final four minutes of the opening period. TAMIU went into halftime with a thirteen-point lead (44-31). TAMIU's top scorers at the break were Kenny Hatch and Jordan Van DeKop who broke double-digits with eleven and ten points respectively; Zoran Arsenovic was the Aggies' shooter at halftime with eight points.

OPSU averaged 42.9 percent in first-half shooting and dropped to 31.6 in the second period; the Dustdevils fell from 54.5 percent to 46.7 percent in the second half of the game but stayed ahead of the Aggies through the final twenty minutes of play. TAMIU overpowered OPSU at the boards, taking 40 rebounds over 19 by the Aggies; they also outscored OPSU15-0 on second chance points. VanDeKop led the game in rebounds and managed both ends at the glass, taking four offensive and five defensive rebounds for International; he also ended as the leading scorer with 23 points. Teammate Hatch totaled 13 points and held the game-high in assists with five.

Antonio Manns, Jr. came back in the second half to lead the Aggies in scoring with 13 points and Arsenovic finished with 12. Arsenovic took the team-high in rebounds with seven and Marquavius Williams and Dedrick Shannon, Jr. led the Aggies in assists with four each. The Aggie men will also fall short of the Heartland Conference tournament this year, as they hold an 8-19 overall record with one win within the league.

OPSU Basketball will finish off the regular season at home this weekend with a final conference matchup against St. Mary's University on Saturday, Feb. 27. Seniors will be recognized prior to each game with the women tipping off at 1 p.m., followed by the men who are set to start at 3 p.m. A special halftime performance from the Meade Elite Cheerleaders will take place during halftime of the men's game and Pizza Hut will be there early to sell large one-topping pizzas in the lobby starting at 12:30 p.m. Come help the Aggies close out the season with spirit and show your support and appreciation for our senior athletes.