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SWOSU (8-13, 5-10 GAC) at Southern Arkansas (6-16, 4-12 GAC) Saturday, February 14, 1 PM Magnolia, Ark. (W.T. Watson Center) Watch Live | Listen Live | Live Stats SWOSU Game Notes

Setting the Stage
- SWOSU travels to Magnolia, Ark., for their final road game of the season when they take on the Lady Muleriders of Southern Arkansas in the W.T. Watson Center on Saturday afternoon at 1 PM
- The Lady Bulldogs took the first game of the season series 73-70 on the back of a record-setting performance by Jessica Penner
 
The Opponent
Southern Arkansas (6-16, 4-12 GAC)
- The Lady Muleriders have gone 2-3 in their last five games including a 58-38 blowout victory over East Central on Thursday night that saw the Tigers end the first half with just nine points
- SAU has the sixth-ranked scoring offense in the Great American Conference, pouring in 64.6 points per game. Rosa Bryant paces the Lady Muleriders with 12.8 PPG, the 11th-best total in the GAC. Bryant and Tierra Tucker both put 23 points on the Lady Dawgs in the first meeting of the season
- Opponents have put 68.3 PPG past SAU this season on .427 shooting from the field. Opponents have also been able to splash in .329 of their shots from deep. However, they held SWOSU to just one 3-point basket in their last meeting
- Southern Arkansas is one of just four teams in the conference with a positive rebounding margin, pulling down 38.1 rebounds per game with a margin of +1.1. Bryant is the strongest Lady Mulerider on the glass, pulling down 6.3 RPG. She had nine against the Lady Dawgs in Weatherford
- The Lady Muleriders have the second-best offensive rebounding percentage in the conference at .346. Miranda Grier leads the team at 2.3 ORPG
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Kelsi Musick (86-77, 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
 
Southern Arkansas: Rusty Rainbolt (12-15, 2nd season)
- Rusty Rainbolt enters his second season at the helm of the Lady Muleriders basketball
program. He is the fifth coach in program history
- In his first season, Rainbolt took an SAU team that had gone winless in the 2012-13 season
and produced a 12-win season en route to a program-first GAC Tournament berth
- Prior to his appointment at Southern Arkansas, Rainbolt served three years in the same
capacity at NCAA Division III Concordia in Austin, Texas, where he amassed a 54-24 record
and was named American Southwest Conference (ASC) West Division Coach of the Year in his
second season. During that same season, his team became the first women's team in school
history to qualify for the NCAA Division III Tournament
- Before going to CTX, Rainbolt also spent time at McMurry, Wayland Baptist, Hardin-Simmons
and Trinity Christian High School
 
Last Time Out
- The Lady Dawgs suffered a setback on Thursday night, falling 80-77 to Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Ark., inside the Vining Arena
- It was a back-and-forth affair for large parts of the game. SWOSU eventually used a 10-2 run to end the first half to take a 30-26 lead into the locker room
- The lead continued to change hands in the second half, but the Lady Tigers were eventually able to take the lead for good on the strength of their nine 3-point baskets made in the second half
- Korina Chapman finished with a game-high 14 points while three other Lady Dawgs finished with double digit scoring nights. Morgan Vogt came off the bench for 12 points, and fellow freshman Jade Jones poured in 12 points as well. Chelsea Bates was the other SWOSU player to finish in double digits with 10 points
- SWOSU recorded their second most steals in a game this season with 11 and had 28 points off turnovers
 
Checking the Standings
- SWOSU (8-13, 5-10 GAC) dropped to eighth with the loss on Thursday night, one spot ahead of OBU (8-14, 4-11 GAC) in ninth
-Arkansas Tech (18-3, 13-2 GAC) and Harding (17-4, 13-2 GAC) are tied at the top and have clinched GAC Tournament berths. East Central (14-7, 10-5 GAC) and UAM (12-9, 10-6 GAC) have also locked down tournament spots and are third and fourth respectively
- Southeastern Oklahoma State (15-8, 8-7 GAC) is in fifth, maintaining their position just ahead of Northwestern Oklahoma State (9-13, 8-8 GAC) in sixth place
- Henderson State (8-14, 6-10 GAC) remains just ahead of SWOSU in seventh place
- Southern Nazarene (7-15, 4-12 GAC) and Southern Arkansas (6-16, 4-12 GAC) are tied at the bottom of the standings in tenth
 
SWOSU Notes
- The last time these two teams met, Penner turned in a player of the week performance. She scored a NCAA Division II program record 39 points which is also the third-most points scored in GAC history. She also broke the GAC and Division II era record for field goals made in a game with 18, including 14 straight shots that found the bottom of the basket
- Bates record seven steals in the loss to OBU, tying the second-best total in the Division II era. She leads the conference and is averaging 2.2 steals per game
- Jones continues to distribute the ball well, and has averaged 4.0 assists per game over the last three games. She's held a 2.4 assist/turnover ratio over that same time span
- Vogt and Nina Gregory have continued to be viable options off the bench. They are averaging a combined 14.0 PPG over the last three games. During that same time span, the bench has averaged 30.0 PPG
- Road game have not been kind to the Lady Bulldogs this season. They have won just two of their 12 total road trips this season with their last road win coming on Jan. 29 against SNU
- Chapman is fifth in the GAC in blocked shots, swatting 1.2 shots per game. However, she has just one blocked shot in her last three games
- Bates has been a workhorse this season, averaging 34.4 minutes per game to lead the team
 
Looking Ahead
- The Lady Dawgs return home to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center on Thursday, Feb. 19 to take on Arkansas-Monticello at 5:30
- The Cotton Blossoms took the first game of the season series 68-56 despite Penner's 20 point game