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Southeastern Oklahoma State (13-8, 10-5 GAC) at Southwestern Oklahoma State (13-8, 10-5 GAC) Saturday, February 15, 2:00 pm Weatherford, Okla. (Pioneer Cellular Event Center) Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Listen Live SWOSU Game Notes

Setting the Stage
      Showdown weekend continues for the SWOSU women's basketball team as the Lady Bulldogs host Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon in a battle for second place in the Great American Conference standings. Both teams enter with matching 13-8 records, including 10-5 conference marks, and both are on a one-game winning streak after wins on Thursday night.
      SWOSU defeated East Central on Thursday night to end a short, two-game losing skid while Southeastern went on the road to Alva and knocked off Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Savage Storm won the previous meeting between the two teams, downing SWOSU 87-78 back on January 9 in Durant. SOSU is 4-6 away from home this year, while the Lady Bulldogs are 9-2 on their home court, including a perfect 4-0 mark since moving over to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
 
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 72-62, and she has a record of 4-5 against Southeastern.
      Darin Grover has been the head coach at Southeastern Oklahoma State since 2005, leading the Savage Storm to a 126-91 record and two trips to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Last Time Out
      The SWOSU women's basketball team tied a season high by making 16 3-pointers against East Central on Thursday night, allowing the Lady Bulldogs to snap a two-game losing skid with a 93-81 victory over the Tigers at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
      Kylie Boggess tied down a career high by knocking down 5-of-8 threes while Michelle Fisher and Sarina Sayama each knocked down four apiece. For Fisher – SWOSU's all-time leading 3-point shooter – she became the first player in Lady Bulldog history to hit 200 triples during their career. Her career tally sits at 202 and counting.
      Sarina Sayama and Fisher led SWOSU with a game-high 20 points while Boggess was close behind with 19 and Taryn Sayama scored 18 points in just 19 minutes before fouling out. The hot shooting of SWOSU allowed the Lady Bulldogs to withstand an outstanding shooting performance from East Central in the first half. ECU knocked down 19-of-32 (59.4%) field goals before the break, but still trailed the Lady Dawgs 47-43 heading into the locker room.
      East Central cut their deficit to two twice early in the second half, but SWOSU pushed their lead to double digits with a 15-4 run that included threes from Boggess and Fisher and put the Lady Bulldogs on top 69-55 with 12:40 to play. The lead would balloon to 21 on two occasions before ECU cut it back to 12 as the final margin.
      SWOSU got back on track by hitting 30-of-72 (41.7%) field goal attempts and 16-of-41 (39.0%) 3-pointers, tying a season high they also made against Colorado Christian and Northeastern State. After a hot first half by ECU, the Lady Bulldog defense clamped down and held the Lady Tigers to 11-of-40 (27.5%) shooting after the break.
 
Last Time vs Southeastern (January 9, 2014)
      A four-game SWOSU win streak against Southeastern Oklahoma State ended on Thursday night as the Savage Storm downed a short-handed Lady Bulldog squad 87-78.
      SWOSU, playing without two starters, attempted a school-record 42 three pointers in the game, connecting on 10. The Lady Bulldogs shot 37.1% (26-of-70) from the field in the contest, but were unable to slow the Southeastern offense, which got 23 points from Emily Williams and a double-double of 12 points and 16 rebounds from Breana Small-Peppers.
      Michelle Fisher played the entire 40 minutes for the Lady Bulldogs, scoring a game-high 24 points on 9-of-20 shooting, which included connecting on 5-of-14 shots from downtown. Sarah Mendoza scored 14 points for SWOSU while Chelsea Bates had 15 points and a team-high four assists as she was called upon to make her second start of the season.
      The Lady Bulldogs defense forced nine steals from Southeastern and SWOSU scored 16 points off of 14 Savage Storm turnovers. Southeastern held an advantage from the free throw line, however, connecting on 27-of-31 (87.1%) attempts compared to 16-of-27 (59.3%) shooting for the Dawgs.
 
Checking the Standings
      Thursday's win over East Central was big for the Lady Bulldogs by enabling them to end a two-game losing skid, but it was also helpful for their conference standing. SWOSU improved to 10-5 in GAC play and they are now back in second place where they are tied with Saturday's opponent, Southeastern Oklahoma State. Both team's have matching 13-8 (10-5 GAC) records, four games behind first-place Harding and one-half game ahead of East Central in fourth place.
 
Scouting the Opponent
      Southeastern has won five of their last seven games after dropping three consecutive gmaes in mid-January. The recent success has helped the Savage Storm climb back up the conference standings and into a tie with SWOSU for second place heading into Saturday's showdown.
      The Savage Storm rank sixth in the GAC in scoring, averaging 69.3 points per game while holding their opponents to 66.1 points per contest, the fourth-best mark within the conference. Their defense has been very stout, allowing their foes to shoot just 37.2% from the field for the year, a mark that ranks second in the conference behind only Harding. SOSU has been even better defending the perimeter, holding their opponents to 27.6% shooting from beyond the 3-point line.
      Southeastern's offense is led by the three-headed attack of Emily Williams, Breana Small-Peppers and Haley Schaefer, all of whom are averaging 11.0 points per game or more. Williams, the GAC Player of the Week on February 3, is averaging 15.0 points per game while Small-Peppers (11.7) and Schaefer (11.1) also top the double figure mark. Williams and Schaefer are also two of the top rebounders in the conference, averaging 7.3 and 6.7 boards per game, respectively.
 
Quick Hits
- SWOSU topped the 90-point plateau on Thursday for the seventh time this season and the 21st time under head coach Kelsi Musick.
- Michelle Fisher became the first player in Lady Bulldog history to surpass the 200 3-pointers made mark on Thursday. Fisher is now 202-for-564 (35.8%) from beyond the arc in her career
- The Lady Bulldogs upped their scoring average to 83.7 points per game, the top mark in the GAC and fourth-best in NCAA Division II
- Sarina Sayama ranks third in the GAC in 3-point field goal percentage, having connected on 52-of-121 (43.0%) of her attempts from long range this season
- Fisher scored 20 points on Thursday, giving her 1,298 for her career. She now needs 88 points to move into fourth place on the list, which is currently occupied by Julie Dawson (1,385 points, 2004-06)
 
Looking Ahead
      The final Arkansas road swing of the season takes SWOSU to Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist next weekend. The Lady Dawgs will first play HSU on Thursday night.