The SWOSU Women's Basketball team (9-7, 5-5 GAC) is coming off a 2-0 week in the PEC, winning against both Southern Arkansas and Arkansas-Monticello. The Lady Dawgs find themselves in fifth place inside the GAC with two pivotal games against Northwestern on Thursday before heading to second place Oklahoma Baptist to close out the week on Saturday.

This is the first time this year the Lady Dawgs face NWOSU (8-8, 5-5 GAC), who will come into this game with an identical conference record. They also took care of SAU and UAM last week and will come into this game on a two-game win streak. NWOSU boasts the second-highest scoring offense in the GAC (70.3 ppg), behind a balanced scoring attack with four double-digit scorers on their team, led by Payton Jones (13.6 ppg) and Kennedy Hight (12.5 ppg), while Kira Bass and Carly Craig both add 10.5 ppg. They are one of only two teams with four double-digit scorers (Harding) in the GAC. Tegan Jones leads the conference in three-point percentage at 55.2%, averaging one make per game, and Carly Craig's 1.9 steals per game is fourth in the GAC.

The Lady Bulldogs have held control over the Lady Rangers in the all-time series, 21-6, including a win in their last matchup, 65-61, in an opening-round upset in the GAC tournament. In Alva, SWOSU holds an 8-5 lead all-time dating back to 2013, but has lost their last three matchups there.

Oklahoma Baptist (12-4, 8-2 GAC) will face SNU before hosting SWOSU on Saturday. Their only losses in conference have come from top-seeded Harding and the Lady Bulldogs. They come into the week with the number one three-point shooting offense, with 9.5 makes per game, and the number two three-point defense, only allowing 27.6% from the deep ball. Mackenzie Crusoe (16.9 ppg) leads the Bison and ranks third in the GAC for points per game and fourth in the conference with 3.5 assists per game. Oklahoma Baptist has the top team free throw percentage in the conference at 83.3%, which is also the top mark in the nation.

In their last matchup with the Bison just over a month ago, the Lady Dawgs found themselves down 60-54 with just over a minute and a half to go before Averi Zinn capped off an 8-0 run with a game winner at the buzzer. Historically, SWOSU holds a 20-4 lead in the series and has four straight wins. In Shawnee, SWOSU holds an 8-2 record.

The Lady Dawgs will look to ride the high of their two-game win streak heading into two games against .500 or above teams. SWOSU's 37% shooting mark is 11th in the conference, but they are able to stack possessions with a league-leading 19.4 forced turnovers per game and a +6.38-turnover margin (15th in the nation). Like OBU, they are a great free throw shooting team, with their 79.2% from the line ranking them fourth in the conference and ninth in the nation.

The Lady Bulldogs' lone double-digit scorer is senior Averi Zinn, with 11.6 ppg; she adds 3.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game.

Layni Zinn had 16 points in the Lady Dawgs' last game and averages 9.7 ppg; she shoots 42.9% from beyond the arc, which is the fifth-best mark in the GAC.