BETHANY, Okla. – Behind 24 points from freshman Makyra Tramble and a double-double from senior Tyra Aska, the SWOSU Women's Basketball team defeated Southern Nazarene 63-51 on Saturday at the Sawyer Center in Bethany.
 
The victory caps off a season-sweep of SNU by the Lady Dawgs and moves SWOSU into a three-way tie for third place in the Great American Conference standings with the Crimson Storm and Henderson State – who happens to be SWOSU's next opponent. The victory also secured the Lady Bulldogs a spot in the 2020 GAC Tournament, which will begin on March 5th in Bartlesville.
 
SWOSU got off to a slow start on Saturday and they trailed 15-9 with 1:04 to play in the first quarter before closing out the quarter on a 7-0 run, which included a runout layup from Maddie Sperle as time expired to make it 16-15. The Lady Dawgs carried that momentum into the second quarter, where they outscored SNU 14-6 to build an advantage of 30-21 at the break.
 
The lead was pushed to 12 points on multiple occasions in the third quarter, but the Lady Dawgs were forced to hold off a late SNU run as the Crimson Storm got within five points at the end of the third. SWOSU was leading 45-42 with just under nine minutes to play when they got two of the biggest shots of the game in back-to-back possessions from freshman Maddy North, who connected on two three-pointers and pushed the lead nine points with 8:08 to play. From that point on, the Lady Bulldogs lead was never any fewer than seven points as they pushed ahead for their third straight victory and fifth in the past six games.
 
Tramble led the way with 24 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and one blocked shot while Aska notched her second double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds in addition to five steals and three assists. North came off the bench to set a new career-high with 11 points while also recording three steals in just 12 minutes of action.
 
SWOSU is now 17-7 on the year and 12-6 in conference play with four games to go in the regular season. The Lady Bulldogs are now headed to Arkadelphia, Ark., next weekend and they'll open the road trip at Henderson State on Thursday night.