CANYON, Texas – After a brief respite from its regular season schedule with an exhibition at NCAA Division II No. 17-ranked West Texas A&M University on Thursday evening, Oklahoma Panhandle State University will resume action next Monday (Dec. 9) at home versus Randall University at Anchor D Arena. In the exhibition bout, the Aggies were handled by the nationally-ranked Lady Buffs, 91-37, at First United Bank Center.
Panhandle State could not overcome the size and experience of the WTAMU squad, sporting a roster of no less than five players listed at 6-foot or better. That proved out in OPSU allowing 66 points in the paint, 18 second-chance points and a 48-23 disparity in rebounding in favor of the Lady Buffs.
The Aggies were led by six points apiece from freshman
Shay Audrain, redshirt freshman
Vanessa Gonzalez and junior
Naomi Rodriguez. Audrain and Rodriguez both went 2-for-8 from the floor and had a pair of buckets from three-point range. Gonzalez was 2-for-6, both treys.
Shaylynn Choate,
Cassia McCaskill and
Hannah Bennett each chipped in four points.
Senior transfer Lowndie Laporal led Panhandle with four rebounds, while also making one block.
Nadia Hayes added two blocks and three boards.
Kaylee Morgan had three assists to top her team.
Panhandle State's women's team will play its first home contest since November 16, when Randall University comes to Goodwell on Monday. The Lady Saints should offer an interesting match-up for the Aggies, as they hit the restart button for countable games on the schedule. The teams have had no common opponents in the 2019-20 campaign and, thus, allows for no comparative scores.
The Randall contest – as well as one more road bout at Northern New Mexico College on Dec. 28 – will be not just the final games of calendar 2019, but also the last two tune-ups before the Aggies get back into Sooner Athletic Conference competition on January 2, 2020 (at Texas Wesleyan University).
