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Ouachita Baptist (4-8, 0-5 GAC) at Southwestern Oklahoma State (3-8, 0-5 GAC) Weatherford, Okla. (Pioneer Cellular Event Center) Thursday, January 8, 5:30 PM Watch Live | Listen Live | Live Stats SWOSU Game Notes

Setting the Stage
- The Lady Bulldogs host Great American Conference foe Ouachita Baptist to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center on Thursday at 5:30 PM looking for their first conference win
 
The Opponent
Ouachita Baptist (4-8, 0-5 GAC)
- Ouachita Baptist opened 2015 with a 70-45 loss to GAC leaders Harding, and have won only one of their last five games coming into Thursday night's contest against SWOSU
- The Lady Tigers have the seventh-best offense in the conference, scoring 63.5 points through the first 12 games of the season. They are led by Katie Kapler, who recording 12.0 points on 57.6 percent shooting, the second-best clip in the conference. Breanna Harris is second on the team, pouring in 11.3 points a contest
- OBU is fourth in shooting from the line, converting on 72.5 percent of their attempts. They scored a season-high 20 points from the stripe in a December 30 win against Blue Mountain College
- Macey Burr has been the most accurate shooter from range for OBU and the fourth-most accurate shooter from range in the conference, shooting 48.1 percent from beyond the arc. However, Taylor Bowles has made the most 3-point shots on the team, recording 23 to average 1.9 per game
- Ball control has been an issue for the Lady Tigers this season, turning over the ball a GAC-leading 20.4 times per game. They hold a turnover margin of -4.5, the second-worst mark in the conference
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Kelsi Musick (81-73, 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
 
Ouachita Baptist: Garry Crowder (299-225, 20th season)
- Garry Crowder enters his 19th season at the helm for OBU as the program-leader in wins with 299 to his credit
- His teams have been ranked in the NCAA Division II Top 25 or received votes 11 times during his time with the team
- Crowder's 2008-09 squad recorded a single season record for wins in school history at 23 and they reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II Tournament
- He boasts a career record of 703-334, making him one of the all-time winningest coaches in Arkansas history at any level
- Prior to taking over as the coach at OBU, Crowder enjoyed a successful career on the Arkansas high school coaching circuit with stops at Taylor and Jessieville High Schools
 
Last Time Out
- SWOSU fell just short in a comeback bid against in-state rival Southeastern Oklahoma State, falling to the Savage Storm 81-78 in Durant, Okla., on Saturday
- Southeastern led 42-35 at the half, but a rally by SWOSU saw them outscore SOSU 43-39 in the second half
- The bench featured heavily in Musick's game plan, with Kimmi Sawatzky (16), Kassy Easter (12) and Morgan Vogt (10) all coming off the bench to score in double digits. The trio also accounted for six of SWOSU's ten 3-point baskets, going 6-14 from range
- Jade Jones was the leading score for the Lady Dawgs, pouring in 17 points on 4-18 shooting. She went to the charity stripe a game-high ten times, shooting 80 percent
- Jessica Penner grabbed a season-high 17 rebounds in the effort and chipped in with nine points on 66.7 percent shooting
- The Lady Dawgs out-rebounded OBU on the offensive glass 17-13, and turned that advantage into 19 points
 
Checking the Standings
- SWOSU (3-8, 0-5 GAC) and Ouachita Baptist (4-8, 0-5 GAC) are in a tie for tenth
- Harding (10-2, 6-0 GAC) are currently on a six-game win streak and sit alone at the top of the standings
- Arkansas Tech (10-1, 5-0 GAC) and East Central (9-2, 5-0 GAC) are tied for second place
- Southeastern Oklahoma State (11-2, 4-1 GAC) is in sole possession of fourth. Arkansas-Monticello (5-6, 3-3 GAC) sits one place behind in fifth
- Northwestern Oklahoma State (3-8, 2-3 GAC) broke a three-way tie with Southern Nazarene (5-7, 2-4 GAC) and Southern Arkansas (4-8, 2-4) for sixth. SNU and SAU are now tied for seventh
- Henderson State (3-9, 1-5 GAC) notched their first conference win, topping SAU 83-78 to jump SWOSU and OBU for ninth place
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU's offense is rounding into form and are now averaging 70.3 points per game and rank as the fourth-best scoring offense in the conference. Chelsea Bates leads the team with 11.7 points and is 14th in the conference. Other scorers in the Top 30 include Sawatzky (10.9) in 19th, Penner (10.8) in 21st, Jennifer Williams (10.6) in 23rd, Jones (9.3) in 27th and Korina Chapman (8.9) in 29th
- SWOSU is fifth in rebounding with 41.1 rebounds per game, but hold a -3.2 rebounding margin against opponents. Penner leads the team and is fourth in the conference with 8.9 rebounds, while Chapman is sixth with 7.9. Penner also leads the conference with 3.7 offensive rebounds per game
- The Lady Dawgs have the fifth-fewest assists in the GAC, but have shown improvement taking care of the ball and now hold a .8 assist/turnover ratio, the fifth best mark in the conference. Bates leads the GAC in individual assist/turnover ratio at 2.2 and also assists with 4.4 per game. Her assist/turnover ratio ranks 27th in NCAA Division II
- Opponents are shooting 41.9 percent from the field, but are finding little space along the perimeter where SWOSU is allowing just 28.6 percent of shots to fall, the third best mark in the conference
- Chapman accounts for 53.8 percent of SWOSU's 24 blocked shots and is averaging 1.3 blocks per game
- SWOSU will be playing just their second conference game at home this season
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU stays in Weatherford as they welcome Southern Arkansas and reinging GAC Player of the Week Rosa Bryant to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center on Saturday with tipoff set for 1 PM