Setting the Scene
• SWOSU Women's Basketball is back at home this weekend, hosting a pair of Great American Conference contests at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
• The Lady Bulldogs are coming off an 0-2 road trip to Arkansas, where they suffered defeats at Arkansas Tech and Harding, and they're currently in the midst of their first three-game losing streak since they dropped the final two games of the 2017-18 season and their season opener last season
• SWOSU will look to bounce back from their first home loss since 2017 on Thursday when they host Southern Arkansas, who previously defeated the Lady Bulldogs on January 4th
• On Saturday, the Lady Dawgs will go for the season sweep of Arkansas-Monticello, who SWOSU took down 72-61 in their first game of 2020 on January 2nd
• After suffering two defeats last weekend, the Lady Bulldogs have dropped to seventh in the conference standings, where they're tied with Southern Arkansas at 7-5
• Arkansas-Monticello enters the weekend one game ahead of SWOSU as one of five teams tied for second place in the GAC standings at 8-4
 
About the Opponent
Southern Arkansas (13-5, 7-5 GAC)
• The Muleriders have won three of their last four games to improve to 7-5 in conference play, which has them tied with SWOSU in seventh place in the standings
• SAU averages a league-leading 12.7 steals per game and their turnover margin of +5.7 trails only SWOSU among league teams
• Diamond Morris leads the team in scoring with 10.2 points per game, but it was Kylie Warren (13 points) and Doriana Brown (12) who led SAU in the first meeting with SWOSU
 
Arkansas-Monticello (13-5, 8-4 GAC)
• The Cotton Blossoms have won three consecutive games, including a 80-30 victory over Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday, marking their largest win against a Great American Conference opponent
• UAM sports the top scoring defense in the conference, holding opponents to just 56.7 points per game, while scoring 67.8 points on average
• Reigning GAC Player of the Week Berniezha Tidwell leads the Blossoms in points, rebounds, assists and steals and ranks second on the team in blocked shots
 
SWOSU Notes
• Bethany Franks has led the Lady Bulldogs in scoring during two of the past three games, improving her season average to 10.9 points per game for the year
• Freshman Makyra Tramble has taken over as SWOSU's leading scorer after averaging 14.0 points and 9.5 rebounds in the Lady Bulldogs road trip to Arkansas last weekend
• Tramble was inserted into the starting lineup on Saturday at Harding and responded with her fourth double-double of the season after totaling 15 points and 10 rebounds
• SWOSU's scoring offense has dipped down to second in the conference with 76.8 points per game while the Lady Bulldogs scoring defense (69.8 ppg) is down to 11th among league teams
• Lauren Ramey has scored 11 or more points in three straight games - the longest such streak of her career - and she recorded her first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds at Harding
• Taber Beer extended her streak of games with 10 or more points to eight straight as she averaged 11.5 points per game on the Arkansas road trip
• SWOSU continues to lead the conference in turnover margin (+8.6) and and assist/turnover ratio (1.1:1) while Franks (1st), Tramble (8th) and Tyra Aska (10th) rank in the Top 10 in the league in steals
• The Lady Bulldogs have knocked down 10 or more three-pointers in four of the last five games and they lead the conference with 9.7 made three's per game for the year
• Taylor Hedrick is three points away from surpassing Kayla Horn (908; 2002-06) for 17th place on SWOSU's all-time scoring list
• Tyra Aska recorded her first double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds on Thursday at Arkansas Tech
• Regan Crawford has now scored in six straight games, including a career-best seven points and three assists in 16 minutes of action at Harding
 
Looking Ahead
• SWOSU will play in-state rivals for their next four games, a stretch that begins in Ada next Thursday night against East Central
• The Lady Bulldogs are back at home next Saturday to host Oklahoma Baptist with an amended start time of 11:00 am
• The follow week will see the Lady Dawgs head to Alva on Thursday to face Northwestern (Feb. 13) before making a visit to Bethany on Saturday to meet Southern Nazarene (Feb. 15)