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Setting the Scene
- Lady Bulldog Basketball takes the top seed into the 2018 Great American Conference Tournament and they will match up with Oklahoma Baptist in the tourney quarterfinals
- SWOSU won the GAC Championship outright by one game to earn their 16th all-time regular season conference championship and first as a member of the GAC
- The Lady Bulldogs will be entering the conference tournament off a loss, however, after dropping the regular season finale at Southern Nazarene last Saturday
- SWOSU will face an Oklahoma Baptist team that is appearing in the GAC Tournament in their first year of NCAA postseason eligibility after finishing with an 8-14 mark in league play
- SWOSU swept the season series over Oklahoma Baptist, including 100-72 victory last Friday on Senior Day in Weatherford that clinched the GAC Championship
 
The Opponent
(8) Oklahoma Baptist (13-15)
- Despite dropping their final four games of the regular season, OBU still managed to claim the No. 8-seed in the GAC Tournament with a record of 8-14 in GAC action
- The Lady Bison got the spot after breaking a four-way tie for eighth place in the league standings due to a head-to-head tiebreaker
- OBU is the second-highest scoring team in the conference - behind SWOSU - with an average of 78.2 points per game while their opponents are scoring 75.9 points per contest
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Kelsi Musick (155-104, 9th 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 five 20-win seasons
- Musick has coached one All-American and 15 All-GAC selections, including two Players of the Year (Darcie Dick, 2012; Hailey Tucker, 2017) 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
 
Oklahoma Baptist: Casi Bays (108-76, 6th season)
- Bays has been head coach at OBU since 2012 after two seasons as the assistant coach of the team
- In her second season at the helm, Bays was named Sooner Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Bison to a 28-6 record
 
Checking the Bracket
(2) Arkansas Tech vs. (7) East Central; Thursday, March 1, 2:15 pm
(1) SWOSU vs. (8) Oklahoma Baptist; Thursday, March 1, 8:00 pm
(4) Harding vs. (5) Southeastern Oklahoma State; Friday, March 2, 5:45 pm
(3) Henderson State vs. (6) Ouachita; Friday, March 2, 8:00 pm
Semifinal #1; Saturday, March 3, 5:45 pm
Semifinal #2; Saturday, March 3, 8:00 pm
Championship; Sunday, March 4, 3:30 pm
 
The Series (GAC Era)
Date                Location                     Score
*1/23/2016       Weatherford, Okla      W 84-77
*2/20/2016       Shawnee, Okla.          L 81-85
*1/21/2017       Shawnee, Okla.          L 79-81
*2/16/2017       Weatherford, Okla      W 87-59
*1/20/2018       Shawnee, Okla.          W 91-78
*2/23/2018       Weatherford, Okla.     W 100-72
 
GAC Era: SWOSU leads 4-2
In Weatherford: SWOSU leads 3-0
In Shawnee: OBU leads 2-1
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU junior standout and Bartlesville native Hailey Tucker leads the Lady Dawgs into the postseason as the reigning GAC Player of the Year and the league's top scorer this season with 20.0 points per game
- Tucker also ranks third in the GAC in blocked shots (1.7 per game), sixth in three-pointers made (64) and eighth in rebounding (7.7 per game)
- Hayden Priddy is ranked second on the team and fifth in the GAC with an average of 15.8 points per game while also ranking third in assists (4.6 per game)
- Priddy also has the best assist/turnover ratio in the conference at 1.7/1 and her free throw percentage of 89.5% ranks third in the league
- Tyra Aska is SWOSU's third-leading scorer and ranks ninth in the conference with 14.0 points per game while also ranking sixth in steals (1.8 per game) and 11th in assists (3.4 per game)
- Bethany Franks leads the conference in rebounds with 272 (9.7 per game) while also ranking fifth in field goal percentage, having hit 104-of-214 (48.6%) attempts this season
- With 25 wins this season, SWOSU has reached the 20-win plateau for the 22nd time in school history and fifth time under the direction of Kelsi Musick
- The 25 wins by the Lady Bulldogs is also the most by the program as an NCAA Division II institution
 
Looking Ahead
- With a victory on Thursday night, the Lady Bulldogs would advance to the semifinals of the GAC Tournament, where they would face either Harding or Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday evening at 5:45 pm