Aggie Basketball Celebrates Five Seniors

Goodwell, Okla.—Two season finales served as the backdrop for a senior celebration that took place between the Panhandle State women’s and men’s basketball games against Bacone College Saturday afternoon at Anchor D Arena. Both SAC contests ended in defeat for the home teams (WBB 81-72, MBB 91-75), but Aggie spirit and true pride reached the rafters when seniors took the court for the final performance of their college careers.

Madison Dearmin, Teraye Gillum, Tierra Roberson and Hannah Southard were the four seniors representing the women’s team and Tyler Pate stood as the lone senior from the men’s team. The Aggie women battled a full forty minutes for their chance at a Sooner Athletic Conference playoff spot. The ladies held a three-point lead (36-33) going into halftime, keeping Aggie fans on the edge of their seats throughout the entire first half. Sophomore Addison Munsch led the game with 20 points at the break and Dearmin was leading at the boards with seven rebounds.

Bacone came back to claim the third period 22-15 and take a four-point advantage going into the final ten minutes of the game. Four points was as close as the Aggies would get, as the Warriors outscored their opponents 26-21 in the fourth quarter. For the game, Munsch marked her second-highest scoring effort of the season with a game-high of 30 points. Monti Regier added 12 points on four shots beyond the arc, and freshman Naomi Rodriguez led the team off the bench with ten points, five rebounds and three steals. Sophomore Shambri Kelso put in a physical performance, making 4-6 shots from the line and one three in the game. Dearmin led the team in rebounds with ten, and Morgan Latta led in assists with five.

For her first and final season as an Aggies, Dearmin ended as the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 14 points per game over 26 starts. Dearmin was the team-leader in rebounds with 223 on the season and held the team’s highest field goal percentage (.456) and free throw percentage (.830). Over her 55-game career at Panhandle, Southard contributed 150 points, 114 rebounds, 21 assists and 21 steals. Roberson played 47 games for the Aggies, offering up 137 points and 115 rebounds. Teraye Gillum finished her college career with 21 points and 34 rebounds over 21 games played.

Panhandle players have plenty to be proud of, finishing the season as the fifth-ranked women’s team in the conference for Scoring Defense (65.46), sixth-ranked team for free-throw percentage (.690), and showcasing ten athletes in top-five spots within the conference for individual performance. Their 14-14 overall season record is the best posted at Panhandle State since 2007-2008 under Coach Brad Vanden Boogaard.

Aggie Women’s Basketball Head Coach Victor Esparza offered these comments after a hard-fought season, “I just want to say how proud I am of our team and what we accomplished this year. They came to work every day since August, and never wavered from our goals.” Esparza added, “We have a lot to hold our heads up high about. I look forward to the future of our program and where we can go from here.” Speaking on his senior players he says, “Our seniors were big leaders for us and showed our younger girls the way to compete. We are going to miss them, but they have built a good foundation for us.” Esparza wrapped up with a special statement to the fans, “Thank you to all the fans that made it a good atmosphere for our home games. We look forward to building even a better home court in years to come.”

The Warriors were up 48-34 on the Aggie men at the end of the first half. Panhandle State struggled to find the basket, shooting under 30 percent in the first twenty minutes of play; Bacone shot at 44 percent from the field and out-scored the Aggies 6-1 beyond the arc. Second-half shooting improved to 35 percent for Panhandle, but their efforts at the boards were outmatched 25-13 by Bacone. With 16 offensive rebounds in the game, the Warriors added 14 points off second-chance shots. Bacone also reaped the rewards of a strong bench, gaining 40 points off the performance of non-starters.

Junior Jace Kerr led the game in scoring, putting up 27 points for Panhandle State. Kerr was near perfect at the line, landing 15-16 free throw attempts. Tyler Pate and Chandler Bryer also shot in double-digit numbers, totaling 15 and ten points respectively, each adding nine points on threes. Jaedon Whitfield held the game-high in rebounds with 17 and finished with eight points on the day. Pate and Whitfield also combined for three blocks and three steals, with Pate offering three assists.

Pate finished his senior season as the Aggies’ second-leading scorer, totaling 363 points on the year and averaging 16.5 points per game. Over 22 games played, Pate led the team in assists with 60 on the season. He brought down 63 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

The Aggie men also recorded their best season in over a decade finishing 11-17, the highest number of wins since the 2002-2003 season (16-10) under Coach Charles Terry. Panhandle State stands in the top-five of conference ranks in three team categories: Scoring Defense/Game (65.46), Field Goal Percentage Defense (.374) and Total Rebound Defense/Game (36.31). Individually, Jace Kerr (22) and Tyler Pate (16.5) hold the second and sixth spots for Scoring/Game and Jaedon Whitfield tops the charts in four categories; ranked first in Double-Doubles (17), Rebounds/Game (12.36), Total Rebounds (309) and Defensive Rebounds/Game (10.68).

Head Coach Jerry Olson was proud of how hard his team competed this season, commenting on their final game, “Our guys really competed hard, we just couldn’t make shots.”

Congratulations to Aggie Basketball for two successful seasons, and best wishes to our five seniors who will forever be a part of the Panhandle Family.