ALVA, Okla. – Despite dropping three crucial games over the past weekend of conference play, the Northwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball team still finds themselves with a chance to make program history.

The results of this past weekend will make that chase for history a little bit more difficult, but the first berth in the Great American Conference post-season tournament is still with-in reach. The Lady Rangers find themselves two games back of the magic eight spot in the standings, but still have three games remaining on their schedule with teams who's record is only at best two games better than the Lady Ranger's, and one who's record is worse and have already been defeated by head coach Tasha Diesselhorst's team. This weekend the Lady Rangers will take on in-state rivals East Central and Oklahoma Baptist, both which present good opportunities for Northwestern to inch closer to that eighth spot.

With so many scenarios still yet to play out during the final stretch of games in the conference, coach Diesselhorst has preached that the Lady Rangers must worry about themselves and improve on the lessons learned this last weekend after three consecutive losses. In all three games against Southeastern, Southern Nazarene, and Southwestern, the Lady Rangers found themselves ahead or still in the ballgame in all of those contests. Finding a go-to scorer in the crucial moments of the game has been difficult for coach Diesselhorst's inexperienced team. Other teams have relied on big-time names in the conference such as Southeastern's Grace Potter, Southern Nazarene's Abby Boyd, and Southwestern's Hailey Tucker against the Lady Rangers to take over games and lead their teams to victory.

"I think all three of these past games when you get into a tight game you have to have that person that wants to step up and have the ball and their teammates can look up to, and I think we're struggling to find that person right now," coach Diesselhorst said, "I do think we're learning and growing up a little bit, and hopefully we'll find somebody that can step into that role."

All of the pieces that have led the Lady Rangers during this turn-around season will look to continue the fight on and keep competing in a way that has made coach Diesselhorst proud all season. In a career that has been filled with coaching changes and struggles on the court, seniors Ashley Pride, Jonae Isaac, and Relina Johnson will all have a chance to cement their legacies as Lady Rangers by leading Northwestern to their first ever berth in the conference tournament. All three players have embraced the changes that have been put on them throughout their careers and have all competed at a high level in their final season as Lady Rangers.

The senior trio will get things started in what could be their final four games this Thursday night inside Percefull Fieldhouse against the Lady Tigers of East Central. East Central enters the game as one of the hottest teams in the conference since being defeated by the Lady Rangers back on Jan. 21. Following that 60-69 loss at the hands of the black-and-red, the Lady Tigers have won six of their last seven contests, with their only defeat happening in overtime against Ouachita Baptist. The Lady Tigers defense has been ferocious as of late, allowing over 70 points just twice during the last seven games and has moved up into the top three in scoring defenses in the conference. East Central has also found success in taking care of the basketball on offense and avoiding turnovers, ranking 26^th in the nation in fewest turnovers with 289.

"They're a team that we worried about their post play and their size the last time we played them and last time their guards stepped up and made shots against us," said coach Diesselhorst, "They're probably one of the hottest teams in the league so we're going to have to shoot the ball well like we did last time at their place again. It'll be a similar game plan it's just that they're playing a little bit better than they were last time."

The Lady Rangers will then face-off with another team that they defeated the first time around in conference play in the Lady Bison of Oklahoma Baptist. In the previous match-up inside Percefull Fieldhouse, the Lady Rangers led for nearly 30 minutes throughout the game and controlled the Bison's strong inside game despite giving up 27 points to center Katy Custer. Northwestern combated the strong inside presence by getting to the free throw line and converting on 18-of-21 chances from the charity stripe. Oklahoma Baptist is coming off of a huge win at home against Southern Nazarene and will be a dangerous team for the Lady Rangers to face.

Northwestern will get their chance at much-needed season sweeps on Thursday evening at home against East Central at 5:30 p.m., followed up with a road contest on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. with Oklahoma Baptist.