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Southwestern Oklahoma State (5-8, 2-5 GAC) at Henderson State (4-10, 2-6 GAC) Arkadelphia, Ark. (Duke Wells Center) Thursday, January 15, 5:30 PM Watch Live | Listen Live | Live Stats SWOSU Game Notes

Setting the Stage
- The Lady Bulldogs kick off a three-game road swing in Arkadelphia, Ark., where they will face Henderson State in the Duke Wells Center at 5:30 PM on Thursday night
 
The Opponent
Henderson State (4-10, 2-6 GAC)
- The Lady Reddies boast the sixth-ranked offense in the Great American Conference, scoring 64.5 points per game, but hold a league-worst scoring margin at -10.5. Aungelique Sledge leads the team with 17.4 points, the fourth-best mark in the GAC. Haleigh Henson is the only other HSU player that ranks in the GAC's Top 30 scorers, coming in at 22nd with 10.2 points in her freshman campaign
- HSU ranks last in the conference in both field goal percentage (.368) and field goal percentage defense (.462), but allow opponents to shoot 30.5 percent from the 3-point line which is the fifth-best mark in the conference. In their most recent game against Northwestern Oklahoma State, they held the Lady Rangers to just two makes from deep to tie their season low
- Henderson State ranks seventh in rebounding offense, grabbing 37.1 boards per game, but hold a -1.4 rebounding margin
- Averaging 19.5 turnovers per game, HSU has the third-highest turnover rate in the conference and have GAC-worsts in turnover margin (-4.57) and assist/turnover margin (0.5)
- Henson ranks third among qualifying players in 3-point baskets made, knocking down 2.4 per game. Henderson State ranks fifth in the GAC with 6.9 3-pointers per contest
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Kelsi Musick (83-73, 6th season) 
- Kelsi Musick is in her sixth season leading the SWOSU women's basketball program
- The two-time GAC Coach of the Year has been the model of consistency, winning GAC Tournament titles in two of the last three years and earning back-to-back NCAA Division II National Tournaments. SWOSU is one of only four teams in the Central Region that have reached the national tournament each of the last two seasons
- Her high-energy style of play has led the Lady Dawgs to rank in the top four in the nation in scoring, and top ten in three points made in each of the last three seasons
- A great developer of talent, Musick has coached one All-American and 11 all-GAC selections, including one Player of the Year recipient
- Musick has also spent time as an assistant coach at Fresno State, where they won two Western Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles, as well as qualified for the NCAA Division I National Tournament in the 2008-09 season
 
Henderson State: Jill Thomas (13-14, 2nd season)
- Jill Mitchell begins her second season in charge of the Lady Reddies basketball program after going 13-14 and earning the sixth seed in the GAC Tournament
- During her first season, two of her players earned GAC Player of the Week honors and Sledge was placed on the All-GAC First Team roster
- Prior to taking the post at Henderson State Thomas spent four seasons at the helm of NCAA Division III Pfeiffer University, amassing a 65-48 record in four years with seven of her players earned all-conference honors
- Thomas has also spent time as an assistant coach at NAIA Division II Dakota Wesleyan and Mitchell (S.D.) High School
 
Last Time Out
- SWOSU welcomed Southern Arkansas to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center and emerged 73-70 winners thanks to an NCAA Division II era record 39 points by Jessica Penner
- The Lady Dawgs held the lead through the majority of the first half before a 12-0 by SAU helped the Lady Muleriders go into the locker room at half up 35-32
- After fighting hard to gain back control of the game, SWOSU finally retook the lead with 1:22 left in the game when Penner completed a three-point play at the free throw line. Chelsea Bates scored six free throws in the final minute of the game to ice the game
- It was a struggle on offensive side of the ball for SWOSU, with only Penner and Bates (14 points) recording double digit figures. However, Korina Chapman and Kassy Easter dished out four and five assists respectively
- The team's shooting woes were highlighted by their 3-point percentage. The Lady Dawgs went 1-16 from beyond the arc, with Kimmi Sawatzky scoring the lone trey late in the game
- Chapman proved valuable crashing to the glass, grabbing several clutch rebounds down the stretch that contributed to the SWOSU victory. She finished with a game-high 12, including five on the offensive end
- Aside from the points record, Penner also broke the record for most field goals made in a game with 18, including 14 straight, and tied for the second best field goal percentage at 81.8
 
Checking the Standings
- The Lady Bulldogs (5-8, 2-5 GAC) have moved into seventh in the GAC courtesy of their back-to-back wins last week
- Arkansas Tech (12-1, 7-0 GAC) and Harding (11-2, 7-0 GAC) are tied for first and remain the only two unbeaten teams in the conference after East Central (10-3, 6-1 GAC) dropped a 71-59 decision to last place Ouachita Baptist (5-9, 1-6 GAC). ECU now sits in third
- Southeastern Oklahoma State (12-3, 5-2 GAC) is the only other team in the GAC with a winning conference record and are in fourth place. Arkansas-Monticello (5-7, 3-4 GAC) and NWOSU (4-9, 3-4 GAC) are tied for fifth
- Just below SWOSU are three teams knotted up for eighth place: Southern Nazarene (5-9, 2-6 GAC), HSU (4-10, 2-6 GAC) and SAU (4-10, 2-6 GAC)
 
SWOSU Notes
- Penner scored the third-most points in conference history and broke the conference record for most field goals made in a game. She also connected on 19 straight shots spanning both games last week
- SWOSU now ranks fourth in the GAC in scoring with 71.6 points after averaging just 65.3 points through their first nine games of the season. Penner (13.5 PPG) and Bates (12.9 PPG) lead the Lady Dawgs in scoring while Sawatzky (10.2 PPG), Jennifer Williams (10.1 PPG) and Jade Jones (9.0 PPG) all rank in the Top 28 in scoring
- The Lady Bulldogs boast the second-best rebounding offense at 41.5 rebounds per game, but give up a GAC-worst 42.4 RPG. Penner (9.5 RPG) leads the team and is third in the conference in her breakout season. Chapman (7.8 RPG) is also in the Top Five
- The team has yet to find their shot from deep, converting at a .280 clip, but have also chased their opponents off the perimeter. Opposition are making just .291 shots from beyond the arc
- Penner leads the conference with a shooting percentage of .614 which is also the seventh best percentage in NCAA Division II. She also leads the conference with 4.0 offensive RPG and is tied for 24th nationally
- Bates ranks 39th nationally in assist/turnover ratio at 1.9, thanks in part to her 3.85 assists per game which is the second best rate in the conference. She also ranks third in steals, averaging 1.9 per contest
- SWOSU has now won back-to-back games for the first time this season
 
Looking Ahead
- The road trip continues for SWOSU as they travel to Monticello, Ark., to face the Cotton Blossoms on Saturday afternoon at 1 PM inside the Steelman Field House