Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – For the second time in three days, the Lady Bulldog basketball team went toe-to-toe with a Top 25 opponent as they matched up with No. 20 Harding on Saturday afternoon. SWOSU flipped the script from Thursday's game, however, defeating the Lady Bisons 78-65 for their third win in the past four games.
A strong shooting night from outside sparked the upset as the Lady Bulldogs connected on 12-of-31 (38.7%) 3-point attempts for the game and shot 42.4% (25-of-59) from the field overall. It is also the second time in the past two seasons that SWOSU has defeated a ranked Harding squad, with the other being a 78-74 win over the #2 Lady Bisons in the championship game of the 2014 Great American Conference Tournament.
The teams went back-and-forth to open the second half and seemed poised for a great finish when A'ndrea Haney tied the game at 58-58 with 5:40 to play. SWOSU then hit their next three shots from three-point range as
Kimmi Sawatzky,
Jade Jones and
Jennifer Williams took turns hitting from downtown to put the Lady Dawgs in control. The lead got pushed to seven on the next possession as a driving Williams found
Jessica Penner under the basket for a bucket that made it 69-62 with 3:32 remaining.
SWOSU continued their late-game spurt, getting multiple stops at the defensive end and converting free throws and fast break opportunities out of their press break to make the final margin their largest lead of the game. In total, the Lady Bulldogs finished the game on a 20-7 run, spanning more than five and a half minutes of game time.
"I'm so proud of this team, their resiliency and the fight we have shown these past two weeks," SWOSU Coach
Kelsi Musick said after the win. "We have come together and they are starting to understand our system. I also thought our defense and rebounding were very clutch in helping us knock off a Top 25 opponent."
Jones led the way for SWOSU, hitting 3-of-6 from downtown and 6-of-12 overall for a career-high 19 points while
Nina Gregory also had a career game, hitting 4-of-5 shots from the field – all three pointers – along with two free throws for 14 points in 17 minutes of action. Sawatzky scored 11 points, including multiple clutch baskets in the game-deciding run, while
Chelsea Bates and Williams each added 10 points apiece.
The Lady Bulldogs outrebounded Harding 43-to-38 and forced 12 turnovers in addition to outshooting the Lady Bisons from the field and three-point range. Even though Harding outscored SWOSU 30-to-24 in the post, the Lady Bulldogs had six second-chance points while holding HU without any and the SWOSU bench outscored Harding's 35-to-22.
SWOSU (8-12, 5-9 GAC) has now won three of their last four games and they've climbed back into seventh place in the GAC standings with six games remaining on the conference slate. The Lady Bulldogs play two games on the road next weekend, facing Ouachita Baptist and Southern Arkansas before returning home to play the final four games on their schedule.
