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SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
LADY MULERIDERS
5-12 (3-10 GAC)
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SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA
LADY BULLDOGS
12-6 (8-4 GAC)
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NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA
LADY RANGERS
6-13 (5-8 GAC)
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GAME NOTES (PDF)
TIPPING OFF
Southern Arkansas Women's Basketball (5-12, 3-10 GAC) looks to climb back into the hunt for a tournament berth to Bartlesville in March as they welcome in a pair of formidable opponents in Southwestern Oklahoma and Northwestern Oklahoma as each school has already claimed a victory over SAU this season.
The Lady Muleriders tip-off with the league's highest-scoring offense in Southwestern Oklahoma on Thursday, February 2. It will serve as Mulerider Athletics' annual Community Night as the department will honor Columbia County's "Hometown Educators."
Northwestern Oklahoma enters on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip-off with the goal of keeping their tournament hopes alive as well. Live stats and live video will be available for both games this weekend with links located on the Women's Basketball schedule tab on muleriderathletics.com.
LADY MULERIDER NEWS AND NOTES
Southern Arkansas returns home for the final home and home GAC weekend this season as they welcome in the hottest team in the league in Southwestern Oklahoma and Northwestern Oklahoma, which is fighting for a tournament berth. The Lady Muleriders are 5-12 overall, 3-10 in league play and are currently fighting to remain in the hunt for a tournament berth in March.
The Lady Muleriders have dropped their past two games, but return home where they are 4-5 on the year. Offensively, SAU scores at an average of 60.5 points per game and owns the fifth-best scoring defense in the conference at 68.1 ppg.
Southern Arkansas also ranks among the league's top-five in three other statistical categories: Rebounding Defense (3rd | 35.8 rpg), Rebounding Margin (4th | +2.9) and Steals (3rd | 8.2 spg).
Newcomers have played a huge role for the Lady Muleriders this season as two new faces are leading the team in scoring. Freshman forward
Kimberly Crown averages team-bests with 12.5 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game, while junior guard
Anna Djedjemel follows with 8.4 points per game while also leading the team with 2.6 assists per game and in minutes played at 28.9 per game. Crown is shooting a team-high 48.4% (61-of-126) from the floor, while Djedjemel averages a team-high 3.4 trifectas per outing.
Freshman guard
Aaliyah Holmes scores 6.4 points per game and averages 1.9 assists per game. Holmes is averaging 12.2 points and 3.6 assists per game in her past five games; two of which have been SAU wins.
Defensively, Crown averages a team-leading 1.4 blocks per game. Djedjemel paces SAU with 1.7 steals per game. The Lady Muleriders are holding the opposition to a shooting clip of 40.5%.
COACH
The Lady Muleriders are coached by
Julio Pacheco, who is in his second season at Southern Arkansas. Pacheco guided the Lady Muleriders to a NCAA DII program record 19 wins a season ago and their first postseason victory in nine years. For his efforts, Pacheco was named Women's Basketball Coach of the Year in the Great American Conference.
SCOUTING SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA
The Lady Bulldogs sport a 12-6 record overall and are 8-4 in Great American Conference play. Southwestern Oklahoma has won three of their past four games,
including a pair of wins over then-#21 Harding, 80-79, and then-#17 Arkansas Tech, 90-79, which was nationally televised. SWOSU is just 4-6 on the road this season.
Southwestern Oklahoma has been led by 2015-16 GAC Freshman of the Year Hailey Tucker who is averaging league-bests with 18.7 points, and 9.8 rebounds, while averaging 1.6 blocks per game (3rd | GAC). Tucker shoots 80.0% from the free throw line (10th | GAC) and collects the eighth-most steals with 1.6 per contest.
Hayden Priddy carries the other half of the load as she scores at the league's second-best average of 16.2 points per game. Priddy's 4.3 assists per game are fourth-best in the conference and her 1.5 steals per game are tenth-most. Priddy shoots 82.2% from the charity stripe, grabs the tenth-most steals per game with 1.5 and owns the ninth-best assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.2.
Tyra Aska dishes at 3.6 assists per game (9th | GAC) and controls the sixthhighest assist-to-turnover ration in the league at 1.3. Aska's 45.9% from the floor is
twelfth-best in the league, while her 12.0 points per game are the 16th-best average. The aforementioned trio ranks in the top-ten in minutes per game: Priddy (36.9 | 2nd), Tucker (4th | 34.6), and Aska (31.5 | 9th).
Behind Tucker, Aska and Priddy's double-digit point averages, the Lady Bulldogs score at the highest clip in the league at 80.4 points per game. Southwestern
Oklahoma is second in the league in blocked shots (83) and blocked shots per game (4.6), while the fourth-highest scoring margin at +2.9. SWOSU rebounds offensively at 45.0 boards per game, and allows 45.1 rebounds, while holding opponents to a shooting clip of 37.3% (3rd | GAC).
COACH
Kelsi Musick is in her eighth season at the helm of the Southwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball program. Musick has tallied a 122-97 career record and is responsible for leading the Lady Bulldogs to a pair of NCAA Division II National Tournament appearances and a trio of 20-win seasons, including a 20-14 record a year ago. A two-time Great American Conference Coach of the Year, Musick has totaled 72 GAC wins, averaging over 12 league victories a season.
THE SERIES
Thursday night will be the 12th meeting all-time between the Lady Muleriders and Lady Bulldogs, with Southwestern Oklahoma holding a 10-1 series lead. SWOSU is 5-1 against Southern Arkansas in Magnolia, while SAU's lone win in the series came in Magnolia via a 58-53 victory on February 14, 2015.
LAST TIME OUT
SWOSU picked up a 71-61 win in Weatherford on December 3. The Lady Bulldogs used a big fourth quarter to pull away from Southern Arkansas, which led 43-41 after three quarters of play.
Kimberly Crown led SAU with 14 points and Hailey Tucker scored a game-high 21 points for SWOSU.
SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA
Northwestern Oklahoma enters the weekend with a 6-13 record overall and a 5-8 record in league play. The Lady Rangers have lost two straight games: a
77-57 defeat by #17 Arkansas Tech and a 67-64 loss to (RV) Harding. NWOSU had won three-straight games prior to their two game skid, including an impressive 87-80 win over Southwestern Oklahoma.
The Lady Rangers are led offensively by the GAC's Freshman of the Year in 2014-15 Kalea King, who scores at the league's 4th-highest clip of 15.1 points
per game. King leads the team in assists (44 | 2.3), steals (26), steals per game (1.4), field goals made (93), field goals attempted (12.2), free throws made (92),
free throws attempted (127) and minutes played (578 | 30.4). Jonae Issac leads Northwestern Oklahoma in rebounding at 4.9 boards a contest and Kori Barrios
follows with 4.8 rebounds per game, while the Lady Rangers own a -9.7 rebounding margin (12th | GAC).
Ashley Pride and Deja Beechum both shoot over 35% from three-point range with Pride's clip of 36.2% ranking tenth in the GAC and Beechum's 35.4% placing her 14th. Pride is a 76.5% shooter from the free throw line, while Beechum averages the 14th-most steals per game in the conference with 1.4. The Lady Rangers are the 5th-best free throw shooting team in the league (71.2%).
Northwestern Oklahoma shoots 31.5% from three-point range (7th | GAC) and has made a league-leading 165 three-pointers (8.7). The Lady Ranger defense is pesky as it leads the league in steals with 163 and averages a league-high 8.6 steals per game. NWOSU owns the third-best turnover margin in the GAC at +1.89.
COACH
Tasha Diesselhorst is in her first season as head coach of the Northwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball program. Diesselhorst comes to Alva after a
successful career in the high school ranks at Oklahoma Class A Pond Creek-Hunter, where she collected a 187-63 record through nine seasons that included
four state tournament appearances, a state runner-up finish in 2016, and the Class A state title in 2014.
THE SERIES
Saturday afternoon's meeting in Magnolia will be the tenth meeting between Southern Arkansas and Northwestern Oklahoma since the latter joined the Great
American Conference in 2012-2013. SAU leads the series 5-4 and are an even 2-2 against the Lady Rangers when playing inside the W.T. Watson Center.
LAST TIME OUT
Northwestern Oklahoma claimed the first meeting of the season in a 71-64 victory in Alva. The Lady Rangers pushed their home record against Southern
Arkansas to 2-3. A Lady Mulerider comeback effort fell short as SAU outscored the Lady Rangers 38-28 in the second half.
Makaila Jordan delivered a team-high 16 points for SAU and Ashley Pride scored a game-high 20 points to lead Northwestern Oklahoma.
