ALVA, Okla. - The Northwestern Oklahoma State women's basketball team will take part in yet another crucial weekend series with postseason implications on the line after falling in both contests a week ago.

The Lady Rangers find themselves in a four-way tie at 5-8 in conference play with Harding, Southern Nazarene, and East Central. Northwestern will take on Harding this Saturday for the Hall of Fame game, in what could be a huge swing in the postseason race if Northwestern is able to come away with a win.

Arkansas Tech has hit their stride as of late, winning their last six contests and will provide a stiff test for head coach Tasha Diesselhorst's team. The Lady Rangers have continued their trend of improvement, and nearly pulled off a second-half comeback last Thursday at Ouachita Baptist. Late free throws ultimately put an end to the gritty comeback, but the performance in the second half of that game can be used as a positive point of reference during this week's prep work for Arkansas Tech and Harding.

Junior Jade Jones had 10 of her 25 points in the final three minutes of that contest and now ranks 9^th in the Great American Conference with an average of 14.2 points per game. Jones has been joined on the offensive attack by freshman Selena McDonald, who leads the conference by a wide margin with a 72.7 percent shooting percentage from the field.

Jones and McDonald have consistently joined forces in key moments throughout ball games, and will be looked at as go-to scoring options during this weekend's home series. Junior Bailey Forell has worked her way into the starting line-up in the last few games and has provided a nice complement to the Jones-McDonald duo after hitting 5-of-7 attempts from behind the three-point line in this past weekend's games.

A slew of bench players have also worked their way into the rotation including freshman Hanah Peterson and McKenzie Dean, who have each returned from early-season injuries to contribute quality minutes throughout each of the past few games. Peterson, Dean, McDonald and fellow freshman Bailey Brown and Kinsey Neiderer have created a solid core of young Lady Rangers that will continue to learn and improve as the tight postseason race continues to heat up. 

Northwestern will get their weekend series underway on Thursday night against an Arkansas Tech team that has been on a roll as of late, winning six straight contests and have positioned themselves within striking distance of undefeated Southwestern Oklahoma State for a regular-season conference championship.

The Golden Suns rank in the top in both scoring offense (79.7 ppg) and scoring defense (64.9) and will present the Lady Rangers with a balanced attack. Freshman Jayana Sanders has burst onto the scene in her freshman campaign for Arkansas Tech and currently leads the unit in scoring with an average of 14.8 points per game.

Sanders and fellow freshman Ke'Vonshaye Stackhouse, who is second on the team in scoring with an average of 12.9 points per game, have combined with returning standouts Cheyenne North and Kylie Ladd to establish a solid core of producers. The Golden Suns will also once again feature a high-pressure style defense that ranks in the top 20 nationally in steals and limits opposing squads to just 36 percent shooting from the field.

Coach Diesselhorst and company will then turn their attention to Harding as the Lady Bison have struggled to find ways to win on the road so far this season with a road record of 1-7. Winners of three straight contests, Harding has begun to return to the form that allowed them to make a deep run in the NCAA Division II national tournament a season ago and has limited all three of their most recent opponents to less than 55 points.

Senior Sydney Layrock has returned for her senior season after a First Team All-GAC performance a season ago and is one of three Lady Bison to average double-digit scoring. Layrock and forward Caroline Hogue have presented teams with touch match-ups inside for two seasons now and will be heavily focused on by coach Diesselhorst's defense.

With both teams apart of a log-jam in the heart of the GAC standings at 5-8, both teams will be in desperate need of a victory come Saturday afternoon.   

Games for Thursday and Saturday are set for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off on Thursday and then a 1 p.m. tip-off on Saturday afternoon.