Setting the Scene
• SWOSU Women's Basketball has plenty to play for on the final weekend of the regular season as they host Harding and Arkansas Tech at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
• Thursday night's matchup with Harding brings the top team in the Great American Conference to Weatherford, with the Lady Bisons currently holding a one-game lead over SWOSU and Southeastern Oklahoma State for the top spot in the standings
• Senior Day takes place on Saturday and the Lady Bulldogs will honor their four seniors - Tyra Aska, Taylor Hedrick, Nicole Middleton and Dovile Štrimaityte - prior to tipoff against Arkansas Tech
• SWOSU has won five straight games and seven-of-eight following a three-game losing streak that included road losses at both Harding and ATU
• The Lady Bulldogs are 9-1 at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center this season and 59-7 in GAC games played at their home venue since 2014
• Head Coach Kelsi Musick has her program one win away from their fifth consecutive 20-win season and seventh in her 11 seasons at SWOSU
 
About the Opponent
Harding (18-8, 15-5 GAC)
• The Lady Bisons have won nine of their last 11 games to move into sole possession of first place in the GAC with two games remaining
• Harding defeated SWOSU 64-63 on January 25th in Searcy and they are the league's second-best rebounding team with a rebounding margin of +7.0 per game
• Carissa Caples leads the Lady Bisons with 14.3 points per game while Cheyenne Brown (13.1) and Jordan Elder (10.3) are also scoring in double digits
 
Arkansas Tech (16-8, 13-7 GAC)
• The Golden Suns defeated Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene last weekend to snap a three-game slide and pull into a tie for fourth place in the league standings
• Tech ranks third in the conference in scoring offense (76.8 ppg) and they have the league's fourth-best scoring margin at +7.4
• ATU has four active players scoring better than 10 points per game for the year, led by Kaley Shipman (13.0), Jayana Sanders (11.3) and Ke'Vonsha Stackhouse (11.0)
 
SWOSU Notes
• SWOSU senior standout Tyra Aska was named the Great American Conference Player of the Week after averaging a double-double of 19.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game in road wins at Henderson State and Ouachita
• Aska set a new career-high with 16 rebounds in the HSU victory on Thursday night and she moved into fifth on SWOSU's all-time scoring list on Saturday, passing Jackie Snodgrass (1,516; 1988-92) with her season-high 27-point game
• After recording back-to-back double-doubles on the road last weekend, Makyra Tramble has now scored 10 or more points in 18 straight games and she's the third-leading scorer in the conference with 15.6 points per game
• Tramble now leads her team in both scoring and rebounding (7.8 per game) and she's recorded a team-high eight double-doubles so far in her freshman season
• Bethany Franks ranks fifth in NCAA Division II with 91 steals (3.5 per game) this season, which is the second-highest single-season total in school history, trailing only her record of 104 steals set last season
• Franks also ranks second on the team with 7.2 rebounds per game and fifth in scoring at 9.5 points per game for the year
• Lauren Ramey has been in the starting lineup for six straight games, scoring in double figures three times to raise her season average to 7.0 points per game
• Maddie Sperle scored 11 points on 4-10 shooting Thursday at Henderson State, her 14th time in double figures this season, and she's third on the team with 11.4 points per game for the year
• SWOSU ranks second in the league with 13.0 steals per game for the year and they have the fifth-best turnover margin in NCAA Division II at +8.15
• Five different Lady Bulldogs have hit 30 or more three-pointers this season, led by Makyra Tramble, who ranks third in the conference with 60 made threes (2.4 per game)
 
Looking Ahead
• The 2020 Great American Conference Tournament opens up next Thursday, March 5th, in Bartlesville, Okla.
• The top two seeds will play on Thursday in the quarterfinal round while the third and fourth seeds will play on Friday