Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—Six seniors received recognition between the Aggies' final two games of the 2016-2017 season Saturday afternoon in the Oscar Williams Field House. From the women's team Denise Levine, Shaletha Mayberry, Hannah Whitaker and Johlicia Williams took the court for the last time as Aggies, while Pierre Roddy and Sita Sesay were the two seniors from the men's team.  

In their last Heartland Conference contests, both Aggie teams took losses to two tournament-bound St. Mary's programs. The Rattler women won by a score of 76-64, and the men's team claimed an 87-71 victory over the Aggies.

Although the Aggie women trailed throughout their matchup, they were within single-digit reach of the Rattlers in each stanza of the four-period performance. Shooting a steady 57 percent in the opening quarter, the Aggies finished with a 37.3 percent shooting average on the game, while their opponents shot at 41.2 percent over the forty-minute span.

Freshman Addison Munsch totaled 12 points for Panhandle as the team's leading scorer, followed by senior Johlicia Williams who put up ten points. Seniors Levine, Mayberry and Whitaker combined for 21 points with Whitaker taking the team-high in rebounds on seven boards. Kiara Etheridge owned the only double-double of the day with game-highs of 19 points and 16 rebounds for St. Mary's; Arysia Porter also had 19 points for the Rattlers.

Head Coach Charles Terry offered a few words on the season as a whole saying, "I have had such a pleasure coaching our four seniors and want to tell them that I appreciate all they have done for this program. As a whole we really continued to improve as a team and I want to keep heading in that direction." The Aggie women finished strong with two of their three wins coming late in the season.

The men's team held steady shooting the duration of the game averaging 42.3 percent in the first half and improving to a 54.2 percent shooting average after the break. St. Mary's boasted a 55.6 percent field goal average for the game and outplayed the Aggies 42-19 at the boards, hauling in 17 offensive and 25 defensive rebounds.

Tevin Lytes and Jake Regier brought in team-highs in scoring with 18 and 16 points respectively; Regier racked up nine points beyond the arc landing three of the Aggies' seven long-distance shots. Jace Kerr accounted for 13 Aggie points, with senior Sita Sesay totaling eight. Kerr had four boards on the day along with freshman Jaedon Whitfield, who also finished with four rebounds for the Panhandle men. Yanni Wetzell went 11-19 for the Rattlers totaling a game-high of 28 points with six added from the line. Wetzell was the team's second-leading rebounder with six boards, just one rebound behind teammate Skyler Brooks who had seven. The game-high in assists went to SMU's Robbie Benavides with 12.

Panhandle State men's basketball finished the season with five wins, all on non-conference competition. Head Coach Jerry Olson remained proud of his team's efforts throughout the season. Olson commented on Saturday's performance saying, "They just outmanned us and their size killed us. It is hard to win games when you're outrebounded by 23 boards. I thought that we didn't block out early in the game and just need better effort on the boards." Coach Olson offered his sincere thanks to Aggie Nation adding, "Our fans were really great all year."

Saturday's games conclude regular-season play with the Aggies falling short of the conference tournament. Basketball fans can continue following Heartland Conference action this week as the 2017 Heartland Conference Tournament begins on March 2. The brackets are set with a full schedule offered online at heartlandsports.org. Games will run March 2-5 at the Union Multipurpose Activities Center in Tulsa, Okla.