West Texas Sweeps Aggie Men and Women

By Justine Gaskamp on 11/20/2013

Goodwell, Okla.-The Oklahoma Panhandle State University men’s basketball
team put up a great effort Tuesday evening; but it was West Texas A&M who
came out on top with a 65-58 victory as the Aggies’ record fell to 0-4.

The Aggie men played hard throughout the entire game against a big West
Texas team. The Buffs started the scoring off with a three-pointer on their
opening possession, but things were just heating up as the Aggies would soon
tie the game at 10-10 with a layup from T.J. Farrell off an assist by Z.
Jones; Farrell would even the score again at 16 apiece with a jumper good
from the paint. A pair of Aggie turnovers and two fouls helped give the
Buffs and eight-point advantage with 3:22 left in the half, but it was all
Aggies from that point on as OPSU would score ten unanswered points to end
the half. After a Bill Lee dunk followed by a successful jumper and
back-to-back threes by Dawayne Matthews and Jeremy Newton, the Aggies headed
to the locker room with a 28-26 lead over the Buffs.

Lee got things going in the second half with a jumper good for two,
increasing the Aggies’ lead to four. WT took advantage of Aggie turnovers
and the on-court battle ensued. Tavien Rosemond continued the Aggie scoring
with a slam dunk tying the game at 32, and a three-pointer from Krys
Randolph would bring the Aggies back up by one with 16:29 left on the clock.
However, the Buffs started turning things up and gained an 11-point lead
with under eight minutes left in the game. The Aggies would fight back to
within three points but would only find the basket once in the crucial
closing minutes of the game which opened opportunities up for WT as they
took the win.

Senior Bill Lee, Jr. led the team in scoring with 16 points and three Aggies
came in under him with eight apiece: Tavien Rosemond, T.J. Farrell, and
Jeremy Newton. Farrell led in rebounds with ten and Krys Randolph and Z.
Jones each contributed six assists. The Aggies finished shooting 46.6% from
the field compared to WT’s 52.1%. One astonishing statistic to note relates
to free-throws; WT went to the line 14 times of which they made nine, the
Aggies only had two free-throw attempts the entire game and missed both.

Aggies’ coach Jerry Olson had this to say: "It was a disappointing loss. We
missed good shots which could have kept us even. I was disappointed in our
defensive stances in the stretch; we allowed too much penetration down the
lane." He added, "I was pleased with how hard we played. Bill Lee did a
particularly outstanding job."

Coach Olson was also pleased with his team as they welcomed the Junior
Leadership Guymon group into their locker room to visit after the game, and
Caley Corbin also got a chance to interact with the team when she was made
an official member of Aggie Athletics as part of the OPSU Student-Athlete
Advisory Committee’s Team Impact project.

The Aggie men will take on Fort Hays State in Hays, Kan. on Saturday, Nov.
23 at 4 p.m. Live stats and video links will be available on the OPSU Aggie
Athletics website on the men’s basketball schedule. The Aggies will remain
on the road until their next home game on January 9 against Univ. of
Arkansas-Fort Smith.

oodwell, Okla.-The OPSU women’s basketball team suffered a 62-point loss to
West Texas A&M University Tuesday evening in the Oscar Williams Field House
with a final score of 39-101.

The Aggies got off to a slow start and were down 6-0 after the opening
minute of play. They would find themselves in a 31-point deficit by halftime
with WT having scored 24 points off of Aggie turnovers. The Lady Buffs came
back for more after the break, holding the Aggies to a paltry 14.3% from the
field in the second half and taking a win back to Canyon. The Aggies’ record
falls to 0-4.

Sophomore Courtney Sheets found some bright spots for the Aggies; Sheets led
the team in scoring with 12 points, was perfect from the free-throw line
(4-4), and shared the lead in rebounds with Sharice Papaleo at seven apiece.
Papaleo finished the game with nine points along with Sarah Johnson who also
scored nine. Meagan Bell landed the only successful three-pointer for the
Aggies.

Coach Terry said, "Our team continues to play hard but just needs to find
ways to score. We’re not giving in and will continue to work on improving
our shots."

The Aggies will travel to Lubbock, Texas next to take on their first
conference match-up against Lubbock Christian University on Thursday, Nov.
21 at 5:30 p.m. The team will finish the week in Odessa as they play another
conference game vs. Texas-Permian Basin on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 1 p.m. Aggie
fans will be able to keep up with both games via live video and stat links
available on the OPSU Aggie Athletics website, women’s basketball schedule.

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Justine Gaskamp

Sports Information Director