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Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Women's Basketball will face its third Top 25 opponent in the season's first nine games when they travel to take on No. 6/5 Lubbock Christian on Thursday at 6 pm
- This is just the fifth time these two teams have faced off against each other dating back to 1992 and the third time in the Kelsi Musick era
- Last year, SWOSU routed the Lady Chaps to a tune of 90-63 with both Hailey Tucker (26 pts, 6-of-13 from 3-point) and Hayden Priddy (22 pts, 5-of-8 from 3-point) tallying 20+ point performances
- The No. 6/5 ranking that LCU brings into the contest will be SWOSU's highest ranked opponent of the season and the highest since the opening game of last year when the Lady Bulldogs faced the No. 4 ranked Emporia State Lady Hornets
- Game time for Thursday was rescheduled from the original 7 pm time for tipoff to a 6 pm start
 
The Opponent
# 6/5 Lubbock Christian (9-1)
- The Lady Chaps are two years removed from a NCAA Division II National Championship, a season where they went a perfect 35-0 in just their third year competing in the Heartland Conference after making a transition from NAIA
- This year's team has just one loss to the reigning D2 National Champion Ashland
- The Lady Chap defense ranks 10th in all of Division II, holding opponents to 52.7 points per game
- Tess Bruffey leads the team offensively, scoring 14.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game

The Coaches
SWOSU: Kelsi Musick (138-101, 9th season)
- Two-time GAC Coach of the Year, winning back-to-back honors for the '11-12 and '12-13 seasons and she has now led the Lady Bulldogs to four 20-win seasons after a 20-10 finish a year ago
- Musick has coached two All-Americans and 18 All-GAC selections, including two Player of the Years (Darcie Dick, 2012 / Hailey Tucker, 2017) and one Freshman of the Year (Hailey Tucker, 2016)
- Musick has led SWOSU to four GAC Tournament Championship games with two GAC Tournament Championships (2012, 2014) and two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances (2013, 2014) to her credit
- In nine seasons at SWOSU, Musick has a career record of 138-101, including a mark of 1-1 against LCU all-time
 
LCU: Steve Gomez (234-96 NAIA, 109-20 NCAA Division II; 15th season)
- Gomez claimed 2016 WBCA NCAA Div. II National Coach of the Year honors
- An LCU graduate, Gomez was a standout perimeter player for Coach John Copeland in the late 1980s, and to this day, he still holds the school record for career free throw percentage at .855
 
Checking the Conference Standings
- SWOSU sits alone at the top of the GAC standings, sporting an undefeated 8-0 overall record and a 4-0 conference slate
- Arkansas Tech's lone league loss came at the hands of SWOSU, while Southeastern and East Central also both have just one GAC loss
- Southern Nazarene, Henderson State, Ouachita and Northwestern sit even at 2-2
- Monticello, Oklahoma Baptist and Harding have one win & Southern Arkansas is winless
 
The Series
Date                Location                                           Score
12/05/1992      Wichita Falls, Texas .................. W 89-53
11/25/2000      Plainview, Texas ......................... L 63-97
*11/10/2012     Weatherford, Okla. ...................... L 71-93
*12/10/2016     Weatherford, Okla...................... W 90-63
 
Overall series tied 2-2
*Kelsi Musick era- series tied 1-1

SWOSU Notes
- The Lady Bulldogs moved up in the national polls following another undefeated week which included road wins over No. 19 Arkansas Tech and Harding
- SWOSU finds themselves ranked No. 19 in the WBCA Poll and tied with Michigan Tech at No. 14 in the D2SIDA Poll
- The Dawgs are coming off of a historic conference weekend after collecting road victories over Tech and Harding -- becoming the first team in GAC history to sweep the pair of teams on the road in the same weekend
- Hailey Tucker was named the GAC's Player of the Week for the second consecutive week, giving SWOSU a Player of the Week in three of the season's first four weeks after Tyra Aska also has been honored once with the weekly recognition
- Tucker ranks first in the conference in scoring (21.6 ppg) and blocks (22 total, 2.8 bpg) and fifth in rebounding (8.0 rpg)
- Hayden Priddy finds herself tied for sixth in the league in scoring (15.5 ppg) and fourth in assists (4.1 apg) – she also shoots a GAC best 92.1% from the charity stripe
Tyra Arka's 26 steals this season ranks her tied for 13th in all of NCAA Division II
- SWOSU took care of the ball the best they've done all season against Harding, turning the ball over just nine times while forcing the Lady Bisons into 16 themselves
- The Dawgs are 2-0 this season against ranked teams and 5-1 since last year

Looking Ahead
- The Lady Bulldogs will play one more non-conference game next Friday against Oklahoma Christian at home before taking nearly three weeks off for Christmas Break
- Following the break, the Lady Dawgs will welcome Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Arkansas in more GAC action