Setting the Scene
- For the second straight season and fourth time in the last seven years, SWOSU Women's Basketball will compete at the NCAA Division II Central Regional Championships, which will be hosted in Hays, Kan., beginning on Friday
- This season, the Lady Bulldogs claimed the No. 2 seed in the regional and a quarterfinal matchup with Emporia State on Friday at 2:30 pm inside Gross Memorial Coliseum
- The quarterfinal matchup is a rematch of the season opener, a game in which SWOSU suffered their lone defeat of the regular season as Emporia State topped the Lady Bulldogs 68-60 in a game played in Shawnee
- This will be the second meeting between the Lady Bulldogs and the Lady Hornets in the NCAA Regional Tournament, with the first game being taken by ESU, 97-65, in the opening round of the 2014 tournament
- SWOSU climbed to No. 7 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 poll and No. 4 in the D2SIDA Media poll heading into the national tournament
 
About the Opponent
(7) Emporia State (22-8)
- The Lady Hornets are making their 20th NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 23 years and they returning to the regional this season after missing the event last season
- ESU lost their regular season finale at Central Oklahoma (78-62) and in the first round of the MIAA Tournament to Washburn (61-53), but the Lady Hornets have victories over the top three seeds in the Central Regional field
- Emporia State is ranked third in the MIAA in scoring offense with 72.5 points per game while holding their opponents to an average of 63.1 points for the fifth-best scoring defense in the league
- All five starters for ESU earned All-MIAA recognition, led by First Team selection Tyra Jones and Jessica Wayne, a Second Team selection and the MIAA Defensive Player of the Year
- Toby Wynn was announced as the seventh head coach in Lady Hornet history last April and he has led ESU to a 20-win season and NCAA berth in his first season at the helm
 
The Series

Date	Location	Score
12/5/86	Enid, Okla.	W, 81-62
12/5/87	Enid, Okla.	W, 79-60
12/15/02	Emporia, Kan.	L, 72-78
11/19/04	Emporia, Kan.	L, 59-80
11/18/06	Emporia, Kan.	L, 56-90
3/14/14	Searcy, Ark.	L, 65-97
11/29/14	Emporia, Kan.	L, 56-63
11/13/15	Weatherford, Okla.	L, 63-72
11/12/16	Emporia, Kan.	L, 65-87
11/10/17	Joplin, Mo.	W, 88-76
11/8/18	Shawnee, Okla.	L, 60-68
All-Time: ESU Leads 8-3
NCAA Division II Era: ESU Leads 8-1
in Weatherford: ESU Leads 1-0
in Emporia: ATU Leads 9-4
Neutral: SWOSU Leads 3-2
in NCAA Tournament: ESU Leads 1-0

 
SWOSU Notes
- Sunday's GAC Tournament Championship victory over Arkansas Tech was the Lady Bulldogs 30th win of the season, which gives SWOSU the 10th 30-win season in program history and first since 1994-95
- The Lady Bulldogs have already set the Great American Conference record for consecutive wins and the NCAA era school record with their current 30-game winning streak
- Five of the eight teams competing in the NCAA Division II Central Regional Championship are returners to the tournament after making the field last year - #1 Fort Hays State, #2 SWOSU, #3 Central Missouri, #5 MSU-Moorhead, #6 Lindenwood
- In last year's regional tournament, the SWOSU trio of Tyra Aska, Hailey Tucker and Hayden Priddy combined for 58 of the Lady Bulldogs 75 points in the 78-75 defeat against Fort Hays State
- Four of SWOSU's five starters scored in double figures in the season opener against Emporia State, with Tucker and Priddy leading the Lady Dawgs with 13 points apiece in their lone loss of the season
- In the loss to ESU, SWOSU was held to season lows in points (60), field goals made (20) and steals (7)
- Bethany Franks has scored 10 or more points in five straight games and seven of the last nine games and she averaged 12.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.7 steals per game on her way to being named the MVP of the GAC Tournament
- Tyra Aska was also named to the All-Tournament Team following a championship game double-double of 25 points and a career-high 13 rebounds against Arkansas Tech
- Hailey Tucker and Hayden Priddy were also selected to the All-GAC Tournament Team, with Tucker averaging 13.0 points per game and grabbing a season-high 13 rebounds against ATU while Priddy posted 15.7 points per game in Bartlesville
 
Looking Ahead
- The winner of Friday's quarterfinal matchup advances to the regional semifinals, where they will face either (3) Central Missouri or (6) Lindenwood on Saturday evening at 5:00 pm