**For Immediate Release**
St. Mary’s Tops Lady Aggies in San Antonio
- by Scott Puryear of OPSU Sports on 01/04/2007

Goodwell, Okla. - It was a good women’s college basketball game in San Antonio on Thursday night between Oklahoma Panhandle State and St. Mary’s University. Though the Lady Aggies dropped a 72-59 decision, they refused to go quietly and made things exciting for most of the way.

OPSU started well enough, and at the 10:15 mark of the first half, held a 13-11 lead. However, a strong St. Mary’s run put the home team ahead, 36-20, at the halftime break.

A determined Lady Aggie squad came out for the second half quite ready to play, and shot 50% from the field. Though they begin the half down by 16, they played some inspired basketball, including a 14-2 run, and Nina Kuleff’s free throw put OPSU behind just 58-54 with 5:22 left in the game. That, however, was the closest OPSU would get and St. Mary’s closed it up for the 72-59 victory.

The Lady Aggies outscored their opponents 39-36 in the second half. OPSU’s Sarah Polson tied for game high scoring honors with 19 points, including four of nine three-point attempts.

The going was very rough under the boards between Kuleff and two good St. Mary’s players, Charlena Rodez and Ashton Benford. Kuleff accounted for herself well with ten points and eight rebounds. OPSU won the battle of the boards, with 37 rebounds compared to 35 by St. Mary’s.

Alisha Sladek of OPSU put in eight points and pulled down seven rebounds while teammates Yadira Ortega and Megan Hamilton scored seven and six points, respectively.

With the win, St. Mary’s raised their record to 4-9 while the Lady Aggies fell to 2-11. The Lady Aggies will stay in San Antonio for a Saturday night game with the University of the Incarnate Word. Tip-off for the Saturday contest is set for 6:00 p.m.

###