Setting the Stage
A challenging weekend road trip becomes even more difficult on Saturday as the Lady Bulldogs are faced with possibly their toughest task to date. SWOSU will face Great American Conference leader and No. 6-ranked Harding on Saturday at Rhodes Field House, a place the Lady Bisons hold an undefeated 9-0 record this season.
SWOSU is coming of their lowest-scoring game of the season, being held to just 54 points against Arkansas Tech, and they will be facing the team which handed the Lady Bulldogs their worst defeat of the year, a 95-69 loss in the first game of the new calendar year. Since that game, however, the Lady Bulldogs have won 7-of-10 games and moved into second place in the conference standings with seven games to play in the regular season.
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 70-60, and she holds a 4-3 record against Harding.
Tim Kirby is in his ninth season as head women's basketball coach of the Lady Bisons. He has led Harding to seven straight conference tournament berths, including playing for the Great American Conference Championship in 2012, and he has a career record of 161-88 at HU.
Last Time Out
A six-game winning streak for the SWOSU women's basketball team came to a screeching halt on Thursday evening as the Lady Bulldogs had one of their worst shooting nights of the season in a 78-54 loss against Arkansas Tech.
Arkansas Tech avenged a loss to the Lady Bulldogs earlier this season in Weatherford by shooting over 50% from the field and knocking down 7-of-14 (50.0%) three pointers. Conversely, SWOSU hit just 17-of-53 (32.1%) field goal attempts and was held below 20% shooting from 3-point range for the first time this season after hitting just 7-of-36 (19.4%) attempts from downtown.
Taryn Sayama came off the bench to score 15 points in 28 minutes before fouling out near the end of the game. She was the only player to reach double figures in scoring. Other top scorers for SWOSU included
Chelsea Bates and
Sarina Sayama, who each had nine points.
Michelle Fisher struggled from the field, connecting on just 2-of-11 field goal attempts, but her five points moved her into fifth place on the career scoring list at SWOSU. Fisher now has 1,249 points scored in her career.
Last Time vs Harding (January 2, 2014)
An unblemished and No. 12-ranked Harding squad handed the SWOSU women's basketball team their worse defeat of the season by a score of 95-69 on Thursday afternoon at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse.
The Lady Bulldogs were never able to get on track offensively, knocking down just 6-of-25 (24.0%) of their three point attempts while shooting 33.8% (24-of-71) from the field.
Taryn Sayama and
Michelle Fisher led SWOSU with 23 and 19 points, respectively, but needed a combined 41 shots to do so.
On the flip side, Harding got a monster effort of 31 points and six rebounds from Kristen Celsor, who connected on 14-of-20 field goal attempts. Three other players for Harding scored in double figures and Arielle Saunders pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds, the most by a SWOSU opponent this season.
Checking the Standings
Thursday's loss at Arkansas Tech, coupled with a Southeastern Oklahoma State victory, has the Lady Bulldogs tied with the Savage Storm for second place in the GAC standings. Both teams have a 9-4 conference record, three games behind conference-leading Harding, who is 12-1 in conference contests. The Lady Bisons have won two straight games following their lone loss of the season, on overtime defeat at East Central, to maintain their lead in the conference and they are closing in on a regular season conference championship.
Scouting the Opponent
Harding was one of the last five remaining unbeaten teams in NCAA Division II, starting the season 18-0 before suffering their lone defeat, a 61-60 overtime loss at East Central on January 25. The Lady Bisons are also responsible for handing SWOSU their worst loss of the season after defeating the Lady Bulldogs 95-59 at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse back on January 2.
The Lady Bisons have been effective at both ends of the court, trailing only SWOSU in the conference by averaging 79.3 points per game while limiting their opponents to just 58.8 points per contest. Harding is one of just six teams in NCAA Division II that is defeating their opponents by an average of more than 20 points per game. They are also one of the top three-point shooting teams, hitting 39.2% (179-of-457) of their attempts from long range and they defend the arc well, holding teams to 27.8% shooting from downtown.
Kristen Celsor is the leading scorer for Harding, averaging 17.3 points per game and she has grabbed 145 rebounds for the year, an average of 6.9 per game. Arielle Saunders is the second-leading rebounder in the conference with an average of 9.1 per game while A'ndrea Haney is the GAC's leader in assists with 81, an average of 3.9 per game. The Lady Bison have six players averaging 7.0 points or more per game, but just two over the 10-point plateau in Celsor and Shana Holmes (13.1 ppg).
Quick Hits
- Harding is the only team in the GAC undefeated on their home court and they've defeated SWOSU at Rhodes Field House in both seasons the teams have been members of the conference
- Despite being held to five points on Thursday, her lowest scoring output since last February,
Michelle Fisher moved into fifth-place on the SWOSU all-time scoring list against Arkansas Tech. Fisher how has 1,249 career points, passing Paige Adams, who scored 1,244 points from 2002-05. Fisher now needs 137 points to move into fourth on the list, which is currently occupied by Julie Dawson (1,385 points, 2004-06)
- The Lady Bulldogs will look to avoid being swept by Harding for the first time as members of the Great American Conference
- SWOSU's 54-points scored against ATU was the fewest this season and the first time the Lady Bulldogs have been held under the 60-point plateau since February 11, 2012 (at Harding)
- Although the team's scoring average dropped nearly two points per game after Thursday's game, SWOSU still ranks fifth in NCAA Division II in scoring with an average of 83.7 points per game
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Jessica Penner returned to the starting lineup against Arkansas Tech and scored six points, including perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the free throw line. Penner is 35-of-40 (87.5%) from the stripe this season, a mark which would rank second in the GAC if she had enough attempts to qualify for the list.
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Sarina Sayama (47) and
Michelle Fisher (46) rank third and fourth, respectively, in the GAC for 3-point field goals made this season
Looking Ahead
The Lady Bulldogs return to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center next week as they look to avenge previous losses to East Central (Thursday) and Southeastern Oklahoma State (Saturday).
