Setting the Scene
• Following four straight games at home, the SWOSU Women's Basketball returns to the road this weekend for a pair of Great American Conference contests in Arkansas
• SWOSU first heads to Russellville for an evening matchup with Arkansas Tech on Thursday before venturing to Searcy on Saturday to take on Harding
• The last meeting for the Lady Bulldogs against each opponent came last season in Bartlesville as they defeated Harding (semifinals) and Arkansas Tech (championship) on their way to the 2019 GAC Tournament title
• After losing in each of their first five GAC road trips to Tucker Coliseum in Russellville, SWOSU has defeated the Golden Suns on their home court in each of the past three seasons
• Similarly, the Lady Bulldogs are 3-1 at Rhodes-Reaves Field House in Searcy over the past four years after going 0-4 in the first years of the conference
• SWOSU is alone in third place in the GAC standings, entering the weekend at 7-3, one game behind Southern Nazarene and one game ahead of both Harding and Arkansas
 
About the Opponent
Arkansas Tech (9-5, 6-4 GAC)
• The Golden Suns have alternated wins and losses in six games during the month of January and they're currently in a four-way tie for fourth place in the GAC standings
• ATU ranks fourth in the GAC with a scoring average of 76.4 points per game while holding opponents to an average of 67.4 points per game
• The Golden Suns are playing without the services of two of their top four scorers due to injury and Ke'Vonsha Stackhouse leads the team with 10.9 points per game
 
Harding (9-7, 6-4 GAC)
• The Lady Bisons have won three of their last four games to move into a share of fourth place in the GAC standings at 6-4
• Harding ranks sixth in the league by scoring 69.2 points per game, but they've dipped to 11th with a defense that's currently allowing 70.6 points per game
• Four different players are scoring better than 10.0 points per game for Harding, who is led by Kellie Lampo in scoring (13.4 ppg) and rebounding (8.1 rpg)
 
SWOSU Notes
• SWOSU senior guard Tyra Aska was named to the Great American Conference's All-Decade Team on Wednesday, joining former Lady Bulldog guards Hayden Priddy and Hailey Tucker on the team
• Aska is one of two active players to earn a selection to the All-Decade Team, joining Henderson State senior guard Pink Jones
• The Lady Bulldogs loss to #18 Southeastern on Saturday snapped SWOSU's 38-game home winning streak, which spanned 1,067 days dating back to February 13, 2017
• Junior forward Bethany Franks led the Lady Dawgs with 23 points on Saturday, her second 20-point game of the season and second straight game scoring in double figures
• SWOSU's leading scorer Maddie Sperle was held to three points on 1-of-10 shooting against Southeastern and she's now been held to less than 10 points in three of the Lady Bulldogs four defeats
• Taber Beer extended her streak of games scoring in double figures to six straight games after putting up 16 points against Northwestern and 10 on Saturday against Southeastern
• SWOSU has moved into the conference lead in scoring, averaging 76.8 points per game while knocking down a league-leading 9.6 three-pointers per game
• The Lady Bulldogs have the best turnover margin in the conference at +8.9 and their assist:turnover ratio of 1.1:1 ranks second best in the GAC
• SWOSU freshman standout Makyra Tramble has scored 10 or more points in eight straight games and she's the team's second-leading scorer with 13.7 points per game for the year
• Lauren Ramey had her third double-digit scoring effort of the season with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting against Southeastern and she was one rebound off her career-high with six
• Taylor Hedrick averaged 7.0 points per game in the Lady Bulldogs four-game home stand and she finished with a season-high three steals on Saturday
 
Looking Ahead
• SWOSU is back home next weekend for two crossover conference games at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center, where they'll play three of their next four games
• Southern Arkansas comes to down next Thursday (Jan. 30) and SWOSU opens up February by hosting Arkansas-Monticello (Feb. 1) next Saturday
• The following weekend begins a stretch of four straight games against in-state rivals, starting at East Central on February 6th