OKWU BASKETBALL: EAGLES SWOOP TO 10TH WIN; LADY EAGLES GET BACK TO WINNING WAYS
Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s Yashi McKenzie (0) drives the ball against Southwestern Tuesday night in Bartlesville. The Eagles won 81-76.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s Khassidy Warr (31) battles for the ball against Southwestern Tuesday night in Bartlesville. The Lady Eagles won 78-67.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
Dec. 11, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Following are reports of recent action by Oklahoma Wesleyan University basketball teams.
_____
EAGLES
OKWU’s success in men’s basketball keeps rollin’ along.
The Eagles (10-1, 6-0) are on a nine-game winning streak heading into Saturday’s December finale against Bethany (Kan.) College.
Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. at the Mueller Sports Center.
Head coach Donnie Bostwick — who earlier this season reached the career 500-win mark — is in his 19th season, 13 of them at OKWU.
The Eagles are atop the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference standings.
Following is a look at the Eagles’ wins in December.
OKWU 71, AVILA (Mo.) 56: Incredibly stingy second-half defense — OKWU gave up only 17 points — proved to be the difference.
Tamaje Izuagbe erupted for 26 points — his highest point total in eight games — and pulled down a season-best 16 rebounds to energize the OKWU attack.
Jaden Wilson came off the bench to score nine points — on 4-of-5 shooting from the field — and starter Yashi McKenzie added eight points and six rebounds to add more “oomph!” for OKWU.
The Eagles knocked down nearly 50 percent of their three-pointers (9-of-20) and close to 80 percent of their free throws (14-of-18).
On the other end, Avila drained less than 37 percent of its shots (20-of-55) against the fierce Eagle defense.
OKWU opened the second half with an 11-0 run — including two buckets by McKenzie — to grab control. The Eagles led by double-digits most the rest of the way.
OKWU 88, STERLING (Kan.) COLLEGE 70: OKWU surged to back-to-back double-digit wins for the first time this season.
Five different Eagles scored nine or more points, led by Izuagbe with 22, including a sizzling 8-of-11 from the field.
Humberto Kentish Jr. added 16 points, followed by Nick Bene with 13. The pair shot 70 percent and 67 percent, respectively, from the field.
Angel Hidalgos and Isaac Stanek added nine points each. Both hit two three-pointers.
Ethan Williams fueled the offensive attack with eight assists, followed by Izuagbe and McKenzie with four apiece.
As a team, the Eagles knocked down 55 percent of their field goals (33-of-60) and dominated on the boards, 34-22.
Izuagbe and Stanek both grabbed six caroms — 14 Eagles recorded at least one rebound.
OKWU 81, SOUTHWESTERN (Kan.) COLLEGE 76: The Eagles scored 80-plus points in back-to-back games for only the second time this season.
They needed almost every one of those points as Southwestern proved to be a tough out.
With less than nine minutes left, OKWU led by only four points, 65-61.
But the Eagles finished strong, outscoring Southwestern in the final 8:09, building an 11-point bulge, 77-66, on a layup by Kentish with about 3:30 left.
Southwestern finished strong but never got within five points.
OKWU again spread out its scoring with five different players contributing nine or more points — Izuagbe 18, McKenzie 11, Bene 10, Kentish 10, and Williams, nine.
Williams dropped in 3-of-3 from behind the arc.
The Eagles again found the range, burying almost 50 percent of their field goals (31-of-65), including 10-of-22 from downtown.
Cumulative scoring for these three games:
Izuagbe 24-46 (6-13) 12-15 66, Kentish Jr. 13-22 (4-8) 3-4 33, Bene 12-27 (3-9) 3-4 30, McKenzie 7-15 (1-3) 7-12 22, Williams 5-11 (4-5) 3-4 17, Wilson 7-13 (1-4) 2-4 17, Stanek 5-10 (3-4) 1-3 14, Hidalgos 2-6 (2-4) 3-4 9, Cameron Mennsfield 3-5 (1-3) 1-2 8, Nathaniel Law 3-6 (1-2) 0-2 7, Malachi Okunbor 3-11 (1-8) 0-0 7, Daniel Oluwasuyi 1-3 (1-1) 0-0 3, Marshall Gillette 1-2 (1-2) 0-0 3, Amari Woods 1-4 (0-1) 0-0 2, Blake Hamblin 1-4 0-0 2, Ethan Meeks 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 88-186 (29-67) 35-54 240.
_____
Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s Kamryn Phoenix (1) battles for a rebound against Southwestern Tuesday night in Bartlesville. The Lady Eagles won 78-67.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
_____
LADY EAGLES
The OKWU women could be on the verge of a steady rise upward.
Coached by Heidi Messer, the Lady Eagles’ record sits at .500 (5-5) including a 1-5 mark in the KCAC.
OKWU will be on the prowl this Saturday for their second-straight victory as they play host at 1 p.m. to Bethel (Kan.) College.
Following are summaries of their most recent three games.
AVILA (Mo.) 70, OKWU 65: OKWU entered December with a close loss. Avila led by five points at halftime, 41-36, and held serve during a scrappy second half.
OKWU pulled within one point, 64-63 — on two Khassidy Warr free throws with 1:31 left.
But Avila hit four free throws in the final 1:06 to hold on.
Gracie Alexander topped the Lady Eagles’ scoring sheet with 21 points, followed by Sophia Regalado with 12 and Ashlyn Baker with nine.
Baker also pulled down a team-high six rebounds and Warr handed out four assists.
OKWU shot perfect from the free throw line (10-of-10), but Avila went to the line almost twice as much and hit 16-of-19 to account for the margin of victory.
STERLING (Kan.) 59, OKWU 44: OKWU got off to a hot start, leading after the first quarter, 12-7. Through three quarters OKWU trailed by only four points in the low-scoring battle, 40-36.
But Sterling dominated the final period, 19-8, to nail down the win.
Warr twisted the cords with 15 points on dead-eye shooting from the field (5-of-6) and the tree throw line (5-of-5).
Alexander added 11 points, followed by Khamille Warr and Taliyah Harris with six each. Khamille Warr also pulled down 11 rebounds.
The Lady Eagles’ shooting woes included 17-of-46 from the field and 2-of-15 from behind the arc. They were perfect from the charity stripe — in limited chances (8-of-8).
OKWU 78, SOUTHWESTERN (Kan.) 67: OKWU burst back onto the winning track by scoring 44 first-half points — matching their whole point total for the previous game.
They finished strong with 34 points to reach 78 points, their highest scoring output of the season.
Twenty-point twins Alexander and Khassidy Warr each scored 21, followed by Khamille Warr with 10, to spearhead the assault.
Taliyah Harris and Baker chipped in with eight and seven points, respectively.
Khassidy Warr also yanked down 13 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Khamille Warr finished just shy of a double-double (eight rebounds).
Harris spooned out four assists, followed by Kamryn Phoenix with three.
OKWU finished its amazing free throw shooting run by hitting 17-of-17.
In these past three games the Lady Eagles have bottomed out 35-of-35 free throws.
They also dominated Southwestern on the boards, 35-24.
Following are their cumulative scoring numbers for the past three games.
Alexander 20-54 (8-25) 5-5 53, Khassidy Warr 15-24 (1-1) 11-11 42, Khamille Warr 7-11 (0-0) 8-8 22, Harris 7-21 (0-6) 4-4 18, Regalado 7-15 (0-1) 2-2 16, Baker 6-15 (1-6) 3-3 16, Phoenix 3-12 (1-6) 2-2 9, Katelyn Penner 3-11 (1-5) 0-0 7, Jaclyn Lara 2-4 (0-0) 0-0 4. Totals: 70-167 (12-50) 35-35 187.