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SWOSU (15-10, 12-7 GAC) at Northwestern Oklahoma State (6-18, 6-12 GAC) Thursday, February 27, 5:30 pm Alva, Okla. (Percefull Fieldhouse) Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Listen Live SWOSU Game Notes

Setting the Stage
      The Lady Bulldogs head north to conclude the regular season as they look for the season sweep of Northwestern Oklahoma State. SWOSU defeated the Lady Rangers 87-68 on January 25 as they debuted the Pioneer Cellular Event Center and they've won all three meetings against Northwestern since they joined the Great American Conference last season.
      There is plenty of position in the GAC standings still up for grabs with four teams still in play for the second spot in the standings behind runaway winner Harding. SWOSU is right in the middle of that mix, currently third in the standings, one-half game behind Arkansas Tech. All three of the other teams battling with SWOSU will play each other this weekend while the Lady Bulldogs have just Thursday's game left before the conference tournament.
 
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 74-64 and she is 3-0 against Northwestern Oklahoma State in the past two seasons.
      Eric Bozeman is in his second season as the women's basketball coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State following 12 seasons as a Division II men's basketball head coach and seven more as a Division I men's assistant. His record at Northwestern over the past two seasons is 12-38.
 
Last Time Out
      SWOSU's starting lineup on Tuesday against Southern Nazarene consisted of five seniors – Jaimee Cohen, Michelle Fisher, Sarah Mendoza, Sarina Sayama and Taryn Sayama – playing their final game at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
      All that starting unit did was start the game on a 15-0 run and blossom that lead to 26-2 before the Lady Bulldogs first substitution more than five minutes into the game. From there, the seniors put it on cruise control and enjoyed their final home game, which ended in a 101-66 victory over the Crimson Storm.
      Fisher 25 points in the first half and helped SWOSU to a 65-30 lead at the break before tying her career high and finishing with 31 points for the game. Sarina Sayama added her first double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Taryn Sayama hit for 17 points and Mendoza scored 13, dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds.
      Cohen was the only senior to not hit double figures in scoring, but she still scored five points and grabbed nine rebounds in 23 minutes. Cohen's low post mate, Jessica Penner, came off the bench to score 10 points and grab six rebounds in just 15 minutes of action.
      The Lady Bulldogs shot 48.6% from the field, connecting on 35-of-72 field goal attempts while knocking down half (13-of-26) of their 3-pointers. Britton Scott's jumper in the final minute allowed SWOSU to surpass the 100-point scoring mark for the third time this season and first since a 114-74 victory over Panhandle State back on December 2.
 
Last Time vs Southern Nazarene (January 25, 2014)
      A new backdrop had no effect on Sarina Sayama and the Southwestern Oklahoma State University women's basketball team as Sayama connected on a career-high eight three pointers in helping the Lady Bulldogs rout Northwestern Oklahoma State 87-68 on Saturday night at the brand new Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
      Sayama – the reigning GAC Player of the Week – might be due a repeat performance after going over 20 points in each of this week's games, which included a game-high 26 points on Saturday night. Her eight made three-pointers left her one shy of the single-game school record of nine, held by Lisa McMullen from a game in 1995.
      Michelle Fisher also had a big game for the Lady Bulldogs, scoring 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting while knocking down 4-of-9 3-pointers, giving her 193 for her career. SWOSU combined to knock down 15-of-37 threes in the game, with Chelsea Bates and Kylie Boggess also knocking down shots from long range.
      The Lady Bulldogs defended Northwestern well, allowing the Lady Rangers to shoot 42.2% (27-of-64) from the field while holding them to 4-of-18 (22.2%) shooting from outside. SWOSU also forced 18 Northwestern turnovers, including 10 off steals, while blocking a season-high seven shots as a team.
      In addition, SWOSU won the rebounding battle 43-to-40 with Jessica Penner leading the way with seven boards off the bench. Two players, Jonae Isaac and Kamera Bozeman, scored in double figures for NWOSU, scoring 18 and 17 points, respectively, off the bench for the Lady Rangers.
 
Checking the Standings
      The four-way logjam in the conference standings behind GAC Champion Harding will be sorted out this week as Arkansas Tech, East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma State all have games against each other. Meanwhile, the Lady Bulldogs have just one game left and with a victory they could clinch a top-four seed in next week's GAC Tournament. Northwestern Oklahoma State is 6-12 in conference play, tied for ninth with Ouachita Baptist.
 
Scouting the Opponent
      Thursday's matchup will pit the highest and lowest scoring teams in the Great American Conference each other. SWOSU leads the GAC and ranks third in NCAA Division II with by scoring an average of 85.1 points per game, more than 22 points per game higher than Northwestern, who's scoring 62.5.
      The Lady Rangers come into the game riding high following a 99-97 overtime victory at Henderson State on Saturday. That win snapped a six-game losing streak and improved NWOSU to 6-12 in conference play and 6-18 overall this season.
      Leading Northwestern is Kamera Bozeman, who averages 10.5 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. She is also one of the most efficient shooters in the GAC, knocking down 58.8% of her field goal attempts to rank third in the conference. Bozeman is the lone Lady Ranger averaging more than nine points per game, with their next highest scoring threat being Jonae Isaac at 8.3 points per game.
 
Quick Hits
- Thursday's 101-66 Senior Night victory over Southern Nazarene was the Lady Bulldogs largest conference victory of the season and their biggest margin of victory in a GAC game since defeating Southern Arkansas 101-59 last season
- Michelle Fisher tied her career high with 31 points on Thursday, giving her a chance to climb the all-time scoring list in her final regular season game. Fisher has scored 1,379 points for her career, leaving her 7 points shy of fourth place on the list, which is currently occupied by Julie Dawson (1,385 points, 2004-06).
- SWOSU ranks third in the NCAA Division II in scoring offense, averaging 85.1 points per game, and second in 3-point shooting, marking an average of 10.0 3-pointers per game
- Kylie Boggess has blocked 25 shots this season and her average of 1.1 blocks per game ranks third in the GAC
- The Lady Bulldogs have lost four straight road games this month and they are 4-8 on the road this season
 
Looking Ahead
      With the regular season wrapping up Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs will have to wait until Saturday to see who they will face at the GAC Tournament next Thursday.