Setting the Scene
• Conference play has arrived and the #17-ranked Lady Bulldogs will be in action twice this week against Great American Conference foes
• On Thursday, SWOSU plays their home opener against East Central, with tipoff set for 5:30 pm inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center, before a trip to Durant on Saturday to face Southeastern Oklahoma State at 1:00 pm
• SWOSU is coming off their first loss of the season, a 71-61 setback against top-ranked Lubbock Christian last Saturday in Lubbock, while East Central is 1-3 on the year and Southeastern sits at 2-0
• The Lady Bulldogs moved up three spots in the WBCA Coaches Poll this week, checking in at #17 while still receiving votes in the D2SIDA Media Poll
• SWOSU will be playing their first game of the season at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center on Thursday, a location where they have won 32 consecutive games dating back to an 88-74 loss to East Central on February 11, 2017
 
About the Opponents
East Central (1-3)
• The Tigers were picked to finish seventh in the GAC this season after going 21-8 last season and earning the No. 2 seed in the GAC Tournament with a 16-6 conference record
• ECU has faced a challenging early schedule and they are 1-3 on the year with a win over Newman and losses to Southwest Minnesota State, Tarleton State and West Texas A&M
• East Central is holding their opponents to 58.2 points per game, which ranks third in the GAC, but they are 11th in the league in scoring with 55.2 points per game
• Four players average better than 9.0 points per game for the Tigers, led by Hannah Ladd (11.5) and Sam Schwab (10.8)
 
Southeastern Oklahoma State (2-0)
• The Savage Storm were predicted for a sixth-place finish in the GAC this season after placing sixth in the league last year at 12-10
• Southeastern opened the season with a 61-59 overtime victory at Texas Woman's before returning home to defeat Oklahoma Christian in their home opener last Saturday
• SE is averaging 75.5 points per game for the year while holding their opponents to 62.5 points per for an average scoring margin of +13.0
• Southeastern is led by Kamryn Cantwell in scoring (16.0), rebounding (7.0) and assists (5.0) while Katie Webb is also putting up 15.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game
 
SWOSU Notes
• SWOSU has received contributions from a number of players early in the season as they have opened up with a 3-1 record that includes neutral site victories over Washburn and St. Mary's along with a road win at Pittsburg State
• Leading the way for the Lady Bulldogs to this point has been Maddie Sperle, who has scored at least 19 points in three straight games and she's averaging 18.5 points per game for the year with a career-high 26 at Pittsburg State
• Makyra Tramble has burst onto the scene as a freshman at SWOSU, scoring at least 10 points in each of her first four career games, including her first double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds at Pittsburg State
• Tyra Aska is back for her senior season and she's now just two steals away from surpassing the school record for career steals (175) set by former teammate Hailey Tucker
• Aska scored in double figures in both of SWOSU's first two games before being held without a field goal against St. Mary's, a game in which she still led the team with nine rebounds
• Bethany Franks has hit at least one three-point field goal in three-of-four games this year and she's ranked fourth on the team with 8.3 points per game while leading the Lady Dawgs with an average of 7.8 rebounds per contest
• Lauren Ramey had a career game with 22 points on 7-for-7 shooting from the field, 4-for-4 from three-point range, in SWOSU's season-opening win over Washburn
• Taylor Hedrick is back for a third year in the starting lineup and she's averaging 6.8 points per game to open the year
• SWOSU is ranked sixth in the GAC with an average of 77.8 points per game while opponents are scoring 72.2 points per game against the Lady Bulldogs
• Taber Beer has moved into the starting lineup this season and she's scored at least 12 points in each of the last two games while ranking fifth in the GAC with an average of 4.3 assists per game
 
Looking Ahead
• SWOSU will play their final two non-conference games over the next two weeks, heading to Lawton on November 27th to face Cameron before returning home on December 5th to host Oklahoma Christian
• The Lady Bulldogs will then close out the month of December with a pair of conference games, the first on December 7th against Southern Nazarene at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
• The final game before the holiday break takes the Lady Dawgs to Shawnee to face Oklahoma Baptist on December 14th