ALVA, Okla. – Two different, yet equally impressive wins before the winter break have set the stage for a special spring semester for the Northwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball.

 A record-setting 98 point outburst and a stingy 41 point defensive effort in consecutive road wins to finish out the 2017 calendar year have propelled the Lady Rangers into their winter break and figure to be catalysts to continue to prove themselves as an elite team inside the Great American Conference. Those impressive victories away from Percefull Fieldhouse came against a traditionally strong Oklahoma Christian team back on Dec. 5 and then a top team from the Heartland Conference in Newman four days later, and proved that coach Tasha Diesselhorst's squad is built for victory no matter what the type of game is presented by the opponent.

Northwestern finds themselves in a three-way tie for fifth place entering the 2018 session of the season and will welcome Southern Arkansas and Arkansas-Monticello to Alva for two critical games set for 5:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon. The Lady Rangers went a combined 3-1 over Southern Arkansas and Arkansas-Monticello a season ago, and have added some key new faces that have already made their impact on this season.

Freshman Kinsey Neiderer and Bailey Brown have both had tremendous individual outings on the offensive side of the ball thus far while junior Jade Jones has continued to guide an offense that ranks seventh in the league with an average of 70.3 points per game. Neiderer and Brown have combined for six 20-plus point scoring nights while Jones ranks second in the conference with an average of 5.1 assist per contests.

A consistent flow of role players have stepped up as needed as well, including guard Jakeria Otey and center Selena McDonald, who rank near the top of the league in separate defensive categories. With the abundance of young talent available on the bench as well, several other names figure to make an impact as the heart of the conference schedule begins in 2018.