ALVA, Okla. – If you were to predict that the Northwestern Oklahoma State's women's basketball team would be just one game shy of .500 in league play after the completion of the first half of the conference schedule, some might say you were losing it.

After going winless in conference play a year ago and being selected as a unanimous last place finisher in the pre-season polls, the Lady Rangers now sit in sixth place following Saturday's huge road win over East Central and have a chance to continue to shock all the doubters when they welcome the league's top two teams to Alva this weekend.

Head coach Tasha Diesselhorst maintains that the Great American Conference has lived up to all the hype that everyone around the league has been telling her in regards to it being a very competitive conference night in and night out. She is pleased at the way her team has competed and improved along the way and is excited about playing all the teams a second time around.

"After learning coaching styles and playing styles I think it will be a lot easier for me as a coach the second time around through the schedule," Coach Diesselhorst said.

The immediate and continuing improvement has been felt throughout the team in the first half of the conference schedule, with a lot of the success attributed to leading scorer Kalea King, who sits second in the conference averaging 15.7 points a game, and recent Great American Conference Player of the Week recipient Kori Barrios, who finished up the first half of conference play averaging 10.0 and 5.0 rebounds. However, coach Diesselhorst didn't hesitate to commend senior Jonae Isaac on the outstanding job she has done this season in her senior season after going through two coaching changes, a number of injuries, and now this season a position change that she has embraced.

"Jonae Isaac has done a great job for us and we're asking her to play a role where she's undersized every night she goes out there, but she's never complained about the role we've given her," coach Diesselhorst said," I can't say enough about her effort inside."

Despite checking in at just 5'7, Isaac currently leads the Rangers averaging 5.1 boards a game, and has nearly broken into the top 20 in the rebounding category in the conference. It's been a long ride for Isaac, but her tenacity underneath night in and night out in her final season in the black-and-red has definitely been a major proponent to the Lady Rangers success.  
 
Northwestern finished out the first half of the conference schedule with a busy stretch of five games in ten days, all against in-state opponents. The Lady Rangers finished the stretch with three straight wins over Southwestern, Oklahoma Baptist and East Central. The key in-state wins this past week vaulted Northwestern into solo-sixth place in the conference, just one game back of rival Southwestern for fifth place. Coach Diesselhorst and company are aware of their positioning in the conference, but are simply taking it game by game and not allowing themselves to treat this weekend's game against two potential top-seeded teams the conference any differently.

"We're not really worried about who we're going to match-up with, we haven't really even talked about it," coach Diesselhorst said, "We're just worried about taking care of the second part of the conference schedule and doing as well or better the second round to make the tournament. I'll be happy with whoever we play really."

The Lady Rangers have a chance to show the improvement everyone in the conference is now aware of right out of the gate in this weekend's home stand against Harding and Arkansas Tech. Northwestern struggled back on Nov. 17 and 19 in the road games against this weekend's opponents, losing to Harding by a final of 89-56 and Arkansas Tech by a final of 81-35. However, it is no secret that much has changed across the landscape of the conference, and a trip to Percefull Fieldhouse to take on a Northwestern team that is 5-3 on their home floor with prove no easy task for either team this weekend.

Northwestern will get it's first crack at an upset against the Golden Suns of Arkansas Tech (13-2, 9-2 in GAC) who currently sit second in the conference and boast the second best defense in the conference (60.3 ppg) and the third best offense in the conference (74.5 ppg.) The Suns are paced by guard Kelsey McClure and forward Cheyenne North, who are both in the top-10 in scoring averaging just under 15 points a game. North, who checks in at 6-0, leads a tall and athletic front court that will be a focus for the Lady Rangers of slowing down. Coach Diesselhorst mentioned that points in the paint will be a key stat in determining a victor Thursday night.

The Lady Rangers will then welcome conference front-runner Harding (14-2, 11-0 in GAC) to Percefull Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Bisons are currently ranked 21st in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association Poll and were tabbed as the best team the Lady Rangers have faced this season according to coach Diesselhorst. Diesselhorst also noted that junior Sydney Layrock is the most complete player they have faced all season, and currently leads Harding with an average of 12.9 points a contest.

The Lady Rangers will get their chance to continue riding hot on their three game win streak this Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against Arkansas Tech and then again on Saturday afternoon against Harding at 1 p.m.

For the latest information and updates on Lady Ranger Basketball, follow @NWOSUAthletics on twitter or go to www.riderangersride.com