Setting the Scene
• The SWOSU Women's Basketball team begins a stretch of four consecutive road games this weekend as they make in-state trips to Alva and Bethany for rivalry action
• The Lady Bulldogs will take on Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday night and Southern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon and SWOSU is searching for the season-sweep of both opponents
• After going 1-1 last week with a win over Oklahoma Baptist and a loss at East Central, SWOSU is currently tied for fifth place in the GAC standings, one game out of third place and two games out of first
• Four of the Lady Bulldogs final six games come against teams they are currently trailing or tied with in the conference standings, with two of those games coming on the road
• SWOSU has won three of their last four games after dropping three straight, but the Lady Bulldogs are just 4-6 in true road games this season, including four consecutive conference road losses dating back to January 4th
 
About the Opponent
Northwestern Okla. (11-11, 7-9 GAC)
• The Lady Rangers are 3-4 since their first meeting with SWOSU in Weatherford and they enter the weekend 7-9 in conference play, two games out of eighth place and the final spot in the GAC Tournament
• Northwestern is 6-5 at home this season and they're one of the lowest-scoring teams in the GAC this season with 66.4 points per game
• Bailey Brown and Kalea King are tied for the team lead with 14.5 points per game for the year while Brown ranks fourth in the conference with 7.8 rebounds per game
 
Southern Nazarene (14-6, 11-5 GAC)
• A close defeat at Southeastern last Saturday dropped the Crimson Storm from the top spot in the GAC standings and into a tie for third with Arkansas Tech at 11-5
• SNU features one of the best defenses in the league, holding opponents to just 59.5 points per game while scoring 68.8 points on average
• Three different Crimson Storm players are averaging better than 10 points per game, led by Jaycee Soap (13.2) and Sonia Sarda (11.8)
 
SWOSU Notes
• SWOSU freshman forward Makyra Tramble set a new single-game school record with seven blocked shots in the Lady Bulldogs win over Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday, surpassing the previous record of six, which was set by Hailey Tucker on two occasions
• With 13 points on Thursday at East Central, senior guard Tyra Aska surpassed Michelle Fisher (1,446; 2010-14) for sixth place on SWOSU's all-time scoring list
• Aska is third on the team in scoring, averaging 10.9 points per game for the year, and she enters the weekend 30 points away from reaching 1,500 for her career
• Maddie Sperle was a combined 6-for-6 from three-point range in SWOSU's games against Arkansas-Monticello and East Central and she's currently second on the team with 12.1 points per game for the year
• Lauren Ramey joined the starting lineup for the first time in her career last week and she scored 10 points with seven rebounds in 26 minutes of action against Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday
• Bethany Franks remains the conference leader in steals and she's ranked second nationally with 79 (3.6 per game) to her credit
• Franks has already set SWOSU's career record for steals and her 79 this season is the second-highest single-season total by a Lady Bulldog, a record she already owns with 104 steals last season
• Taber Beer had her streak of double-digit scoring games snapped on Thursday at 10, but she bounced back with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting on Saturday against OBU
• Beer has dished out at least two assists in 19-of-22 games this season and she's currently ranked sixth in the conference with 4.0 assists per game for the year
• SWOSU remains the highest-scoring team in the conference, averaging 78.0 points per game, while also leading the league in turnover margin (+8.5) and three-point field goals made (217)
 
Looking Ahead
• The Lady Dawgs final road trip of the season will take them to Arkadelphia, Ark., next weekend for matchups with Henderson State and Ouachita
• SWOSU is then back home the following weekend to close out the regular season with home games against Harding and Arkansas Tech