WICHITA - The Newman women's basketball will return from a week-long hiatus to host the Oklahoma Panhandle State Aggies Saturday afternoon. Tip-time inside Newman's Fugate Gymnasium is slated for 2 p.m.

About the Jets...
Newman brings a 12-7 overall record, and a 3-1 mark in conference play into Saturday's game after picking up a 69-51 decison over St. Edward's last Saturday in front of a school-record 1,052 fans and a national television audience on the CBS College Sports Network. The Jets have won three of their last four games dating back to Jan. 13. Their only loss in that period was an 84-79 decision to Texas-Permian Basin on Jan. 20 in Wichita.

The Jets are led by Philicia Kelly, a 5-9 junior transfer from Labette Community College who is averaging a Heartland Conference-best 16.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game after a 14-point, three-rebound outing against St. Edward's. Tasha Cannon can be counted on for 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in the paint, while Rhea Codio, a transfer guard from the University of Kansas, scores 13.3 points and dishes out 3.7 assists per game for the Jets as the team's point guard.

As a team, the Jets have held their opponents to a .380 collective field goal percentage, and out-rebound opposing teams by a 40.3-33.2 margin.

Scouting Oklahoma Panhandle State...
The Aggies bring a 3-16 overall record, and a 0-4 mark in Heartland Conference play into Saturday's contest. OPSU is coming off a 57-52 overtime win over Northern New Mexico Monday night, a win that snapped a five-game losing streak. The Aggies have not defeated an NCAA Div. II opponent this season.

Tra'Niqua Dishmon has emerged as the Aggies' leading scorer this season. The 5-11 junior forward is averaging 7.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game through 18 games in the 2010-11 season. Nicole Buhl, another 5-11 junior forward, is the team's leading rebounder, grabbing 5.8 boards per game.

As a team, the Aggies shoot .350 from the floor, .271 from long range, and .678 from the charity stripe, and average 55.5 points per game.  

The Series....
This will be the seventh meeting between the Jets and the Aggies. Newman leads the all-time series 5-1 after sweeping OPSU last season. Oklahoma Panhandle State's only win in the series came on Feb. 21, 2008 when the Aggies picked up a 68-65 win on their home court in Goodwell.

The Last Time These Two Met....
The Newman women's basketball team picked up a much-needed win Thursday night, dominating Oklahoma Panhandle State in all aspects of the game on their way to a 67-48 win over the Aggies in Fugate Gymnasium. Jessica Forshee led the Jets with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Newman (7-19, 4-9 Heartland) scored the first eight points of the game, and kept a short-handed Oklahoma Panhandle State (8-18, 3-10 Heartland) team off the scoreboard for just over five minutes. Cassie Wood scored OPSU's first bucket of the game at the 14:57 mark on a lay-up from Callie Schafer, but the Jets had opened up an 8-2 lead by that point. Wood's bucket was but a minor hiccup for the Jets, who scored the next five points of the game to open up a 13-2 advantage with 13:50 still to play. Nothing seemed to go right for the Aggies in the first half. OPSU finally broke double-digits in the scoring column on a Chaney Latham Free throw at the 5:27 mark, but Newman had the game well in hand by that point, leading 22-10. From there, Newman finished on a 15-9 run over the final five minutes of play, and took a 37-19 lead into the halftime break.

It didn't take long for the thought of a 30-point lead to sneak into the minds of the Jets. Newman picked up where they left off in the second half, opening on a 15-6 run, and taking a 28-point, 52-24 lead on a Jessica Forshee jumper at the 14:40 mark. OPSU responded by scoring the next five points of the game, and turned that spurt into an 18-2 run over the next six minutes that trimmed Newman's lead to 12, 54-42, with 8:35 to play. This time it was Newman's turn to mount a rally. The Jets answered with 11-unanswered points to regain control of the game, as another Forshee lay-up gave Newman a 65-42 lead with just 2:47 remaining in the game. From there, it was a matter of running out the clock. Head Coach Tracy Anderson emptied her bench as the Jets hung on for the 67-48 win.

Senior Jessica Forshee led the Jets in their seventh win of the season, finishing Thursday night's game with 15 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. Monique Pitts added 10 points and three rebounds of her own, while Rainey Nickel added a game-high six assists.

Nefeteria Davis led OPSU with 20 points and a game-high nine rebounds in the losing effort.