Canyon, Texas-Coming off a two week holiday break, the women’s and men’s
basketball teams from Oklahoma Panhandle State University traveled to Canyon
to take on the West Texas A&M University Buffs in non-conference action on
Saturday.
The women played the first game of the twin bill and early in the game, the
lead changed hands three times, but the Aggies were up by four with nine and
a half minutes left on the clock. One minute later, the Buffs took the lead
and held it, going to the halftime break ahead 32-22. In half two, OPSU was
down by as many as 16 points only to fight back to get within six to eight
points more than once. At the end, WT closed the game, earning a 76-63 win
and improving their season record to 5-8 with OPSU falling to 3-8.
Meagan Bell led the Aggie scoring with 18 followed by Sarah Johnson with 13
and Whitley Coca with 12. Shayla Mathis had nine rebounds and Johnson took
down five. WT dominated the paint, scoring 36 points inside while OPSU
scored 14 and the Buff’s Chontiquah White earned a double with double with
21 points and 12 rebounds.
The men’s game started slowly with five turnovers between the two teams
until Carlos Tapia-Ponce hit a 3-pointer a minute and a half into the game.
The Aggies led by as many as 14 points until a Buff scoring run late in the
first half tied the score at 29. WT took a one point lead off a free throw,
but Bill Lee grabbed a rebound off the second shot and scored a lay-up to
put OPSU ahead 31-30 at the buzzer.
The Buffs made two free throws to begin the second half to tie the score. A
quick two by T. J. Farrell put the Aggies ahead again, but five quick points
later, WT went ahead by three. Bill Lee tied it up again with a 3-point
shot, but at that point, the Buffs started to pull away. With a little over
12 minutes left to play, OPSU was behind by four, but that was as close as
they would get again. WT took a 6-57 win and improved to 9-2 on the season
while the Aggies fell to 4-8. Buff Donald Simms led all scorers with 28 and
also took down 13 rebounds. For OPSU, Krys Randolph scored 15 and Bill Lee
followed with nine points and eight rebounds.
Both teams tour Texas to begin 2013, playing conference games against Texas
A&M International on Jan. 3 in Laredo, St. Mary’s University in San Antonio
on Jan. 5, and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa on
Jan. 12. The next home games for both teams are scheduled for Jan. 17
against Newman University.
Laura Nelson is the Sports Information Director at Oklahoma Panhandle State University.