Setting the Scene
- Following a four-game road trip, the Lady Bulldog Basketball team is back home to host Arkansas Tech on Thursday night at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center in Weatherford
- SWOSU has swept the season series against the Golden Suns in each of the past two seasons, but Arkansas Tech eliminated the Lady Dawgs from the Great American Conference Tournament in 2016 and 2017
- Two long win streaks will be put on the line by SWOSU, who has won 15 consecutive games this season and 26 consecutive games inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
- This week, the Lady Bulldogs rose to No. 16 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 poll and No. 14 in the D2SIDA Media poll, the highest rankings for the program since the preseason
- SWOSU Women's Basketball has won 17 straight games in the month of January, dating back to an 81-79 defeat at Oklahoma Baptist on January 21, 2017
 
About the Opponent
Arkansas Tech (6-10, 3-7 GAC)
- A perennial power in the Great American Conference, Arkansas Tech has lost six of their last seven games to fall to 3-7 in conference play, which is currently tied for eighth in the standings
- Last week, the Golden Suns defeated rival Harding in overtime on Thursday night before falling 66-55 at Henderson State on Saturday
- ATU has two players scoring better than 10 points per game and they are led by Hannah Villines (12.1 ppg) and Jacie Higgins (11.2)
- Tech currently ranks sixth in the GAC in scoring offense (68.9 ppg) and third in scoring defense (63.9 ppg)
- Arkansas Tech is led by veteran coach Dave Wilbers, who has guided ATU to five conference tournament championships and eight NCAA Division II Regional appearances
 
The Series (GAC Era)

1/12/12	*Weatherford	W, 85-82
2/9/12	*Russellville	L, 87-101
1/5/13	*Russellville	L, 74-79
2/7/13	*Weatherford	L, 76-82
3/10/13	Bartlesville, Okla	L, 66-70 (OT)
1/4/14	*Weatherford	W, 89-71
2/6/14	*Russellville	L, 54-78
12/17/14	*Russellville	L, 52-97
2/5/15	*Weatherford	L, 62-64 (OT)
11/19/15	*Weatherford	L, 73-94
1/28/16	*Russellville	L, 69-91
3/6/16	Bartlesville, Okla	L, 85-106
11/17/16	*Russellville	W, 72-69
1/28/16	*Weatherford	W, 90-79
3/4/17	Bartlesville, Okla	L, 60-96
11/30/17	*Russellville	W, 84-76
2/3/18	*Weatherford	W, 74-62
All-Time: ATU Leads 21-12
Division II Era: ATU Leads 17-8
in Weatherford: Series Tied 6-6
in Russellville: ATU Leads 9-3
Neutral: ATU Leads 6-3
GAC Era: ATU Leads 11-6
at Pioneer Cellular Event Center: Series Tied 2-2

 
SWOSU Notes
- Tyra Aska became the 13th player in SWOSU Women's Basketball to score 1,000 career points as she poured in a career-best 36 points on Saturday afternoon at Southeastern
- Aska's 36 points is the most by a SWOSU player this season and the second-most by a Lady Bulldog under head coach Kelsi Musick, three off the highest-scoring mark of 39 points, set by Jessica Penner against Southern Arkansas in January 2015
- Taber Beer set a new career-high in scoring for the second straight game, posting 14 points along with five assists in the win at Southeastern on Saturday
- Taylor Hedrick averaged 15.5 points per game last week after posting a new season-high against Southeastern, scoring 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting
- In the latest national rankings, released on Tuesday, the Lady Bulldogs climbed one spot to #16 in the WBCA Coaches Poll and up two spots to #14 in the D2SIDA Media Poll
- Coming off a season-best 28 points at Northwestern, Hailey Tucker was held to fewer than 10 points for just the second time this season as she scored nine points and pulled down seven rebounds against Southeastern
- Tucker, who is averaging 19.2 points per game for the year, enters the weekend 23 points shy of becoming the second player in SWOSU Women's Basketball history to score 2,000 career points
- Hayden Priddy became the first Lady Bulldog to foul out of a game this season, but she still managed 10 points, three rebounds and 10 steals in 17 minutes of action at Southeastern
- Priddy has the second-best assist:turnover ratio in the GAC at 2.2:1 while ranking fifth in assists (3.5 per game) and seventh in scoring (15.6 ppg)
 
Looking Ahead
- Tip time comes earlier on Saturday as the Lady Dawgs host Harding at 11:00 am inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center in Weatherford
- SWOSU then heads back to Arkansas next weekend for conference matchups at Southern Arkansas (Jan. 31) and Arkansas-Monticello (Feb. 2)