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Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Women's Basketball (13-6, 9-4 GAC) takes its three-game winning streak to Monticello on Saturday to face off against the Cotton Blossoms
- The Lady Dawgs are coming off of a 79-68 victory over Southern Arkansas on Thursday, collecting their first GAC regular-season sweep in the process
- SWOSU will look to make that two series sweeps this week against UAM having already beaten Monticello 78-56 back on December 1
- After three-consecutive wins, the Dawgs currently hold the longest win streak in the conference
- SWOSU is ranked third in the league with a 9-4 record behind Arkansas Tech (10-3) and in front of Southeastern (8-5)
- Odd statistic: The Lady Dawgs are an even 4-4 in games played on Saturday

The Opponent
Arkansas-Monticello (9-9, 6-8 GAC)
- UAM is coming off of a 74-66 victory over Northwestern on Thursday and have won two-consecutive games after also beating Southeastern last Saturday
- The Cotton Blossoms are currently tied for seventh in the GAC standings
- Monticello has been good all year 'beyond the arc' both offensively and defensively, holding the top three-point percentage in the GAC at 35% and allowing the fewest three-point shots on defense (82) while also holding opponents to a league-low 26% shooting from three
- Four different Cotton Blossoms average greater than 10.0 points this season

The Coaches
SWOSU: Kelsi Musick (123-97, 8th season)
- Two-time GAC Coach of the Year, winning back-to-back honors for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons and she has led the Lady Bulldogs to three 20-win seasons
- Musick has coached one All-American and 15 All-GAC selections, including one Player of the Year (Darcie Dick, 2012) and one Freshman of the Year (Hailey Tucker, 2016)
- Musick has led SWOSU to the GAC Tournament Championship games with two GAC Tournament Championships (2012, 2014) and two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances (2013, 2014) to her credit
- In eight seasons at SWOSU, Musick has a career record of 123-97, including a mark of 8-3 against UAM
 
Arkansas-Monticello: Tanya Ray (62-91, 6th season)
- During her time at UAM, Ray has coached four All-Great American Conference selections
- Coach Ray came to UAM after serving as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division I
level for the previous 11 seasons (Arkansas State, Oklahoma State)
 
Checking the Standings
- Harding leads Arkansas Tech by two games at the top of the standings, followed by a half game that separates SWOSU and Southeastern for third and fourth
- Henderson State holds the only other .500 or better record at a 7-7 mark ahead of Southern Nazarene by a half game who sits at 6-7
- Monticello and Ouachita are tied for seventh in the league with 6-8 marks and would round out the postseason tournament field if it started tomorrow
- East Central and Northwestern sit just outside of the field with 5-9 records and Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Arkansas are tied for last at 3-11
 
The Series
SWOSU vs. Arkansas-Monticello
SWOSU leads series 8-3 since 2012 (GAC History Only)
 
Date               Location                                Score
 *1/19/2012   Monticello, Ark.                        W 88-82 (OT)
 *2/16/2012   Weatherford, Okla.                   W 71-52
 *11/29/2012 Weatherford, Okla.                   W 77-66
 *2/2/2013     Monticello, Ark.                       W 81-67
 *11/21/2013  Monticello, Ark.                       W 118-88
 *2/1/2014     Weatherford, Okla.                   W 72-46
 *1/17/2015   Monticello, Ark.                        L 56-68
 *2/19/2015   Weatherford, Okla.                   W 69-54
 *12/3/2015   Monticello, Ark.                        L 71-74
 *2/4/2016     Weatherford, Okla.                   L 85-87
12/1/2016      Weatherford, Okla.                   W 78-56
 
*GAC Conference Meeting

SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU showed a balanced attack in their victory over Southern Arkansas on Thursday, as Hailey Tucker and Hayden Priddy each scored 18 points while Whitney Dunn added 17 of her own - a new career high for the senior
- Priddy posted one of her best stat-stuffing game of the season after also ending one assists shy of a double-double and grabbing eight rebounds
- Nicole Middleton tied her career high in points after she scored nine including seven straight for the Dawgs to round out the third quarter against the Muleriders
- The Tucker (18.7) and Priddy (16.3) duo rank one and two in the league in scoring
- Dunn holds the second-highest field-goal percentage in the conference shooting 59.5% from the floor on the season
- The Lady Bulldog offense is more than five points greater than any other team in the GAC, averaging 80.4 points per game (Henderson State, 75.3)
- SWOSU has outscored its opponents in every quarter overall this year except the second
- The latest three-game winning streak marks the third time this season SWOSU has won three-consecutive games and the Dawgs will look to make it a season-best four against UAM on Saturday
- SWOSU made an appearance this week in the NCBWA regional rankings for the first time this week, sitting at 10th in the region poll

Looking Ahead
- Next week, the Dawgs head up I40 to take on Southern Nazarene on Thursday, Feb. 9
- On Saturday, Feb. 11 SWOSU will return home to host East Central and will play six of their last seven games in Weatherford to conclude the regular season