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ALVA, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State University men's and women's basketball teams kick off the 2018-19 Great American Conference slate Thursday evening when the Rangers and Lady Rangers play host to Southern Nazarene inside Percefull Fieldhouse. Tipoff for the women's game is scheduled for 5:30 with the men's contest to follow.
The last time the Ranger men took on the Crimson Storm the game ended with a bang. With seconds remaining on the clock, Brandon Green got the ball across half court and drained a shot at the buzzer to upset the visiting Crimson Storm.
Northwestern's men enter the first matchup against SNU with a 1-3 overall mark, while the Crimson Storm are 6-0 and ranked No. 5 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll and No. 6 in the Division 2 Sports Information Directors Association poll.
The Rangers are fresh off a split in Denver, Colorado, last weekend as they took down the Roadroaders of Metropolitan State, 69-65, in the first game Friday night, but dropped Saturday's contest to No. 25 Regis, 77-60.
Senior big man Treyvon Andres and senior newcomer Joseph Moorer are both leading the Rangers as double-figure scorers. Following a 28-point output against Metro State, Moorer is averaging 17.3 points a game this season, while Andres is scoring 16 points a contest. Andres leads the Rangers on the boards with 25 in his three games played.
While the Rangers are getting their identity on the floor with new faces, SNU enters conference player with the same five starters that led them to a 27-3 record last season, highlighted by Jhonathan Dunn, GAC Offensive Player of the Year, and Noah Starkey, GAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Four Crimson Storm players are averaging double-figures, led by Dunn with 19.7 points a game.
LADY RANGERS VERSUS WINLESS SNU
In the opening game of the evening, the Northwestern Lady Rangers (2-4) will take on a winless Southern Nazarene squad. The Lady Rangers picked up their second victory of the season over the Thanksgiving holiday with an 82-77 win over Chaminade in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Dawning a Northwestern uniform after a year off, Kalea King has proved why she was an All-Conference player as she's averaging 16 points a game after shaking off the rust early. In the past two contests, the redshirt junior guard has netted 22 points in each game.
After tying a career high with 25 points on Thanksgiving Day, sophomore Bailey Brown followed up that performance with a 19-point, 13-rebound game in the victory on Friday for her third career double-double.
Brown is 6-for-10 this season from beyond the arc to lead the conference.
Despite the winless record, the SNU women enter Thursday's conference showdown with the fourth best defense in the GAC. Of their four losses, three have come against Top 25 teams, including a seven-point loss against then No. 1 Central Missouri.
Making an early impact for the Crimson Storm is freshman Kaci Glover. The guard is averaging two three pointers a game is sixing in the GAC in three-point percentage.
Abby Niehues will be a force inside as the 6-2 sophomore is leading the lead with 10 blocks, 10th in the rebounding with six a game and leads the Crimson Storm in scoring at 9.8 a contest.
NWOSU and SNU split their two games last season.
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