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East Central (15-6, 10-5 GAC) at Southwestern Oklahoma State (12-8, 9-5 GAC) Thursday, February 13, 5:30 pm Weatherford, Okla. (Pioneer Cellular Event Center) Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Live Audio SWOSU Game Notes

Setting the Stage
      Following a two-game slide, the Southwestern Oklahoma State University women's basketball team will return to the friendly confines of the Pioneer Cellular Event Center for two crucial Great American Conference contests this weekend. The first revenge game will match the Lady Bulldogs against East Central, a team that currently sits directly above SWOSU in the standings and already holds a 73-63 victory over the Lady Bulldogs from back in January.
      Entering Thursday, East Central has won five straight games while the SWOSU was defeated last weekend at Arkansas Tech and No. 6-Harding, dropping the Lady Bulldogs to 12-8 on the year. At 9-5 in conference play, SWOSU trails ECU by one-half game and they can move back into second place with a victory on Thursday.
 
The Coaches
      Kelsi Musick is in her fifth season leading the SWOSU women's basketball program. She has improved the teams win total in all four seasons she's been at SWOSU, taking the team from three wins her first season to 25 in her fourth year and she is the two-time defending Great American Conference Coach of the Year. Musick's career record at SWOSU is 71-62, and she holds a 6-4 career mark against East Central.
      Emily Holombek is serving as the interim women's basketball coach at East Central this year after spending a season as the assistant coach. Holombek has been either a graduate assistant coach or student-athlete for the Lady Tigers since the 2008-09 season with stints working for both the volleyball and women's basketball teams.
 
Last Time Out
      Michelle Fisher scored 29 points on Saturday and Taryn Sayama added 26, but it was not enough for the Lady Bulldogs to pull off  an upset over No. 6-ranked Harding, who completed the season sweep of SWOSU with an 89-74 victory at Rhodes Field House.
      Fisher hit a pair of free throws with 3:46 to play in the first half to get SWOSU within four at 37-33, but Harding followed that with 10 straight points and they outscored the Lady Bulldogs 11-4 to round out the half and take a 48-37 lead to the break.
      SWOSU battled throughout, but were unable to get within 10 points of the Lady Bisons in the second half. Harding pushed their lead to 22 at 72-50 before the Lady Dawgs rallied back to get within 10 at 84-74 with one minute remaining before Harding finished the game off at the free throw line.
      It was another tough shooting effort for the Lady Bulldogs, who hit 22-of-69 (31.9%) field goal attempts and 7-of-35 (20.0%) shots from 3-point range. One highlight for SWOSU was at the free throw line where they knocked down 23-of-24 (95.8%) attempts.
      Fisher and Sayama combined to score 55 points and lead the Lady Bulldogs in scoring while no other player scored more than eight points. Kylie Boggess struggled shooting the ball but she grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds, blocked three shots and dished out three assists.
 
Last Time vs East Central (January 11, 2014)
      The SWOSU women's basketball team was held 23 points below their season average, scoring a season-low 63 points in a 73-63 defeat against East Central at Kerr Activities Center on Saturday.
      After trailing by one point at the break, the Lady Bulldogs struggled to convert from the field in the second half. SWOSU connected on just 8-of-33 field goals in the second half and they were outscored 40-31 by the Tigers after halftime.
      Michelle Fisher was again the most effective player for SWOSU's offense, scoring 20 points on 6-of-19 shooting while knocking down just one three pointer in five attempts. Sarina Sayama scored 13 points in the defeat while Jessica Penner added six points and a career-high 13 rebounds in a full 40 minutes of action.
      Four players scored in double figures for East Central, who defeated SWOSU in Ada for the first time in four seasons. The Tigers hit just 36.5% (27-of-74) field goals but put down nine three pointers and had 19 offensive rebounds, giving them ample opportunities against the Lady Dawgs defense.
 
Checking the Standings
      Consecutive road losses have dropped the Lady Bulldogs out of second place in the Great American Conference standings and into a tie for third. The good news for SWOSU is they will have a chance to play their way back into second place this week since they will be matched up with the two teams surrounding them in the standings. First up is East Central, the conference' second-place team, heading into the weekend with a 10-5 mark, one-half game ahead of SWOSU and Southeastern -- Saturday's opponent -- at 9-5.
 
Scouting the Opponent
      East Central is the hottest team in the GAC, winning five consecutive games, including a 61-60 overtime win over Harding that is the only blemish on the Lady Bisons record this season. Tough defense has been the key for the Lady Tigers, who are allowing just 61.5 points per game and they held SWOSU's potent offensive attack to just 63 points the first time the teams met.
      ECU is also the top rebounding team in the GAC, averaging 43.4 rebounds per game whill allowing opponents 34.1 for a +9.2 rebounding margin that ranks them among the top ten nationally in the category. In addition, the Lady Tigers have blocked 74 shots on the season and they rank second in the GAC with 3.5 blocks per game.
      The offensive attack for ECU, which is averaging 67.2 points per game -- 8th-best in the conference -- is paced by Alycea Price at 11.4 points per game and Dilan Webster and Erin Walling who each are scoring 10.9 points per contest. Price is also the GAC's fifth-leading rebounder, averaging 7.2 boards per game. The Lady Tigers point guard, Alex Tucker, ranks third in the conference with an average of 3.6 assists per game.
 
Quick Hits
- SWOSU is 8-2 at home this season, including a perfect 3-0 mark in the brand new Pioneer Cellular Event Center
- After a five-game stretch of scoring more than 85 points in each game, the Lady Bulldogs have been held to 75 points or fewer in each of the last three games
- Following back-to-back games of being held to single digit scoring, Michelle Fisher busted her slump with 29 points against Harding, her second-highest scoring output of the season. Fisher now sits along in fifth place on the all-time scoring list at SWOSU with 1,278 points scored and needing 108 points to move into fourth place on the list, which is currently occupied by Julie Dawson (1,385 points, 2004-06)
- Fisher needs just two 3-point field goals to become the first player in SWOSU history with 200 made 3-pointers during a career. She is the Lady Bulldogs all-time leading 3-point shooter, hitting 198-of-551 (35.9%) attempts from long range during her career
- SWOSU ranks first in the GAC and fourth in NCAA Division II in scoring, averaging 83.3 points per game
- Jessica Penner has hit a league-leading 63.8% (60-of-94) of her field goal attempts while also connecting on 37-of-42 (88.1%) free throws, a mark that would rank second in the GAC if she had enough attempts to qualify for the list
 
Looking Ahead
      Another conference clash awaits the Lady Bulldogs on Saturday when they host Southeastern Oklahoma State at 2:00 pm at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.